


And Baby Your Love Is Gonna Change Me

by TinyandFierce



Series: One Way Or Another (I'm Gonna Find You) [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Awesome Pepper Potts, BAMF Darcy Lewis, Canon Rewrite, Clint Barton & Darcy Lewis Friendship, Darcy Lewis is Tony Stark's niece, F/M, Fix-It, MCU canon does not spark joy, Multi, Pepper Potts & Darcy Lewis Friendship, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:28:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 67,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24667624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinyandFierce/pseuds/TinyandFierce
Summary: Darcy thought getting through Norse alien gods was tough, but add time travel and finding out the world gets more screwed as it goes along and Darcy swears she needs more coffee to handle all this!When she gets back to her time her choice seems pretty simple, all she has to do is plan out how to rewrite the next decade of existence as she knows it and convince the not yet formed Avengers team that she’s not batshit crazy.Piece of cake. Right?
Relationships: Clint Barton/Laura Barton/Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis, Jane Foster/Thor, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Series: One Way Or Another (I'm Gonna Find You) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1783546
Comments: 106
Kudos: 453





	1. Whenever It's Right

**Author's Note:**

> MCU Canon made me sad, it had a lack of Darcy and needed more Pepper Potts in it. With this series I plan to remedy all three of those problems. Brace yourselves because I'm throwing canon out the goddamn window.
> 
> Title of the fic and all chapter titles come from lyrics of I Just Haven't Met You Yet by Michael Bublé

_“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” – Leo Tolstoy_

Darcy can confirm that this is the best night sleep she has gotten since she arrived in this middle of nowhere desert and started bunking on her creaky cot. She smiles as she snuggles deeper into the thick quilt and fluffy pillows…

Her mind snaps awake when she remembers that she doesn’t have multiple pillows or a down comforter, at least not here in New Mexico, it’s too hot for that. Darcy keeps her breathing even and her eyes closed as she tries to figure out where the fuck she is because it certainly isn’t her room or her bed. She listens but none of the familiar sounds are heard, she doesn’t hear the rattling of the air conditioner as the old thing struggles to push out cool air. She doesn’t hear Jane and Erik puttering around way too early in the morning not making any effort to be quiet. Instead all she hears is the faint sounds of chirping birds, it feels cooler at least cooler than New Mexico is ever supposed to be and she swears there must be a window open because she smells rain and as most people know, It. Almost. Never. Rains. In. The. Desert!

She is definitely somewhere she is not meant to be which means somehow someway someone snuck into her room last night, grabbed her and carted her off to parts unknown all while Darcy was lost in the throes of a dream. She takes a deep breath which she manages, just barely, to turn into something relatively sleep sounding. She slowly moves her arm from where it’s cradling her face and moves it down and under her pillow. She keeps moving it until she hits something hard and plastic. Her first reaction is to withdraw her hand and shriek because she doesn’t know what the fuck that is but hesitates when she gets a better grip on it and realizes it’s her taser.

Whom the fuck would go through the trouble of kidnapping her only to give her a taser? She makes a note to contemplate these kidnappers and their rating on her villain scale. But that’s for later, right now she gets a firm grip on her taser and flicks the switch on with her fingers. Even below all the pillows she can hear the faint buzzing noise and so can the rooms other occupant that Darcy hadn’t previously known about.

  
“Darce?” A masculine voice asks from a few feet away, Darcy keeps her eyes closed and her hand firmly on her taser, she waits. Soon she hears footsteps approaching the bed and feels it when they sit down and makes the mattress dip. Her whole body is tense, ready to spring into action at the right moment. The man leans over and puts his palm on her arm, rubbing it up and down which, ew if this guys a kidnapper personal fucking space dude.

  
“Darcy you awake?” The man asks softly and Darcy is officially done playing nice. She grabs the taser and pinwheels her arm, throwing the man’s hand off it. She plants the taser in the middle of his chest and pushes the button. She keeps her eyes closed as she hears a surprised noise, next thing she hears is a thump as the man falls off the bed and hits the floor.

  
She counts to five in her head and waits, when she doesn’t hear anything else but more of the man’s pathetic groans, she slowly opens her eyes one at a time. She’s in a bedroom, a nice bedroom actually, as far as kidnappings go Darcy wasn’t expecting this. Another groan is heard and Darcy’s gaze whips back towards the side of the bed the man fell off. She sits up and tucks her taser close to her chest, so if he tries to grab her, she can still move her wrist and taze him again. She slowly crawls towards the edge of the bed and peaks over the top to get her first clear look at the guy.

  
What the fuck?

  
Darcy blinks rapidly and uses her free hand to rub at her eyes, she takes another glance but nothing changes. His face may be scrunched in pain but Darcy definitely knows that face, she just had a history class that included this dude last semester. Which makes this whole situation impossible because James Buchanan Barnes died in the 40s falling off a train, so there’s no way he could be here in the process of kidnapping her.

  
“Oh, I get it.” She says as she finally relaxes, she fully sits down on the bed and loosens her hold on her taser.

  
“Darcy what the fuck?” Bucky Barnes asks her as he sits up and wow, his eyes are really fucking blue. “If this is some kind of foreplay thing, I can tell you right now I’m not into it.” He looks confused and a little bit annoyed but Darcy doesn’t acknowledge this and continues to observe his face.

  
“This is a pretty realistic dream, totally weird, but damn, I didn’t know I was staring at your picture that much.”

Barnes’s eyebrows furrow and he looks at her like a man truly baffled.

“You’re not dreaming, why would you taze me in a dream?”

  
“I thought I was awake and had been kidnapped, you were all up in my personal space dude.” Barnes got an actual offended look at her use of the word dude but Darcy goes on. “Also, there’s no way you could be here if I was awake since you died like 60 years ago.”

  
Darcy watches Barnes take a facial journey, going from confusion to alarm to fear before he just stares at her in silence.

  
“Darcy.” Barnes says carefully “Where do you think you are right now?”

  
“Like here in the dream or here when I’m awake?” Darcy asks and dream Barnes actually rolls his eyes before he crouches down to be at eye level with her.

  
“Where were you the last time you were awake?” He seems so serious; it’s actually freaking Darcy out a bit.

  
“New Mexico, with Jane and Erik.” She answers slowly. That is clearly not the answer he wants as he is now looking genuinely worried.  
“What year?”

  
“2010.”

  
That makes dream Barnes back pedal like you wouldn’t believe.

  
“I’m-I’m-” he stops talking and looks up at the ceiling as he rapidly heads towards the door. “Friday find Jane.”

  
Darcy stares after him for a second, thanking her brain for the goddamn fine view she gets as dream Barnes leaves before flopping back down on the bed.

  
“Really weird dream. Feels real.” Darcy mutters to herself as she moves her arms though the covers as if she was making a snow angel out of the sheets. The blankets felt real and she swore she felt the cool air send real goosebumps over her arms. She waits a few more minutes taking in the silence of the room before sitting up.

  
“Alright this is more boring than high school English class.” She declares to the quiet room before closing her eyes and pinching her arm. She feels the sharp pain, opens her eyes and finds that nothing has changed.

  
This worries her just a bit.

  
“Okay, that usually works, but I mean hyper realistic dream means I probably gotta be more aggressive.” Darcy looks down at her arm and uses her nails to pinch it this time. She waits until the spot starts going a little numb from the pain and the area starts to bruise but nothing is changing. No blackout, no slow fade to consciousness, everything stays relatively solid and authentic looking.

  
She can feel the panic slowly creeping in as her breathing picks up and her mind starts racing. Desperation and panic mix together and start screaming in her head.

  
“Come on Darce, time to wake up. Wake up already.” She murmurs to herself as she starts slapping her hands against her face, her arms, her legs, anything she can reach. She feels the sting and can see her skin turning red but she’s not waking up. She’s practically hyperventilating when she reaches for her taser only to have a hand shoot out and stop her. She pauses and follows the hand up the arm and once again looks into the face of a very alive James Buchanan Barnes.

  
Of course, she screams, what else is she supposed to do in this situation?

  
She wrenches his grip off her arm – more like he lets her go – and points her taser at him while crab walking backwards on the bed until her head hits the headboard. Bucky Barnes has already backed up from the bed with his hands up in the universal I am not a threat sign.

  
“Okay, so we are aware that you are awake, that’s step one.” He says in an almost joking tone that just makes Darcy hold the taser out more.

  
“Shut up whatever you are. Zombie…clone…alien I don’t know!” She says frantically.

  
“Just to clarify I am none of those things.”

  
Darcy rolls her eyes, great the Bucky Barnes impersonator is a smartass, how wonderful.

  
Before either of them could say anything else Jane Foster runs into the room a bundle of flannel and hair flying everywhere.

  
“Darcy.”

  
“Jane!” Darcy throws herself at Jane and wraps her arms tight around the woman but she keeps her grip on her taser and her eyes on the Barnes lookalike. He was currently just standing their leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets looking perfectly at ease.  
What was this guy’s deal?!

  
“Jane what the fuck- what the fuck?” Darcy was going to ask what was going on but when she pulls away from Jane, she finds that what the fuck sums up everything pretty nicely. This Jane is very different from the one that she spoke to last night, this Jane has about a decade more under her belt.

  
“What happened to you?”

  
Jane blinks at the question and has the audacity to snort, Darcy swats her bosses’ arm.

  
“Sorry, sorry, I shouldn’t but… life happened.” Jane shrugs. “I mean it’s the same for all of us.”

  
Darcy pauses and it’s like a lightbulb goes off, her eyes go wider and she tightens her grip on Jane’s arms.

  
“Darcy?” Now both Jane and Bucky Barnes look worried for her sanity, but at this moment she has no time for either of them. She jerks her hands out of Jane’s hold and tries to wrestle herself out of the tangle of blankets and off the bed. She almost face plants on the floor but the supposedly very alive Bucky Barnes catches her. He then quickly let’s go of her when she glares at him. She spins until she finds the door to a bathroom, she runs in and flips on the lights.

  
All goes quiet for a second as she looks at her reflection in the mirror.

  
Darcy tries not to be a vain person, she knows she’s a looker and she still is, that’s not the problem here, the problem here is last night she looked like herself. Now? Now it’s like someone aged her up by a decade in the span of a few hours.

  
So, between that and the alive unaged wwii veteran that had no problem cuddling up to her in bed this is shaping up to be a hell of a morning.

  
“Darcy?” Sound seems to finally break through the freak-out bubble Darcy is currently residing in as she hears Jane’s voice and feels her hand land on her shoulder. Darcy takes a minute and takes a deep breath before looking away from the mirror and turning towards Jane.

  
“How long?” she finally asks and Jane looks uncertain but something on Darcy’s face must convince her because she speaks.

  
“You came here from New Mexico?” Darcy nods. “Then around 15 years. It’s 2025.”

  
Darcy takes a soothing breath in and out, her wits finally coming back to her.

  
“Anything else?” she asks and Jane looks seriously put out by that question. Her and Bucky Barnes share a look before Jane turns back to Darcy.

  
“Yeah, a whole lot has happened.”

***

Darcy is staring at a mini green Hulk that is apparently a morphed together Dr. Bruce Banner and Darcy is gonna need a lot more whisky in her coffee to get through all this.

  
“Darcy?” Jane calls, Darcy take her eyes off Bruce-Hulk and turns back to Jane, Bucky and the princess of Wakanda currently on the tv screen in the lab. Jane has a caring look on her face and that more than anything is throwing her off.

  
“Honestly, I’m use to sleep deprived and slightly snappy Jane. The mom-Jane routine is kind of throwing me off here.” Darcy quips as she takes another gulp of her improvised Irish coffee and itches again at the EEG sticky still secured to her forehead. Once again Jane slaps her hand away which makes Darcy smile. Jane rolls her eyes and Bucky is looking at the floor, definitely hiding his grin. Jane turns back to the computer that is showing a blueprint of Darcy’s brain, she had to be plied with many cups of coffee and a shot of whisky to even let Jane turn the machine on.

  
“Basically, what we have figured out is although your body has stayed in its correct time period your conscious mind has somehow been transferred forward 15 years into your future body.” Jane finishes as Shuri makes noises of agreement. Darcy takes another loud sip that practically echoes off the walls and gains the rooms attention before speaking.

  
“I mean, that’s what I figured but what I’m wondering is the how and also the why. Also, would like to know why I’m at a superhero complex and-” Darcy lifts her hand where a nice sized diamond and ruby ring sits. She smiles teasingly as she wiggles the ring to make it sparkle.  
“How I’m married to a 100-year-old smokin’ hot super soldier.” Darcy adds a wink and Bucky is now giving her a smile while shaking his head.

It’s a good sign, shows he’s use to and enjoys putting up with her shit.

  
“Not that I’m not thrilled.” Darcy starts putting on a dramatic silly tone, she wants to see if she can make Captain McDreamy over there full on laugh. “I mean have you seen him?” Darcy gestures to Bucky with one hand and Bucky lets out a chuckle. Darcy grins at him in triumph and ignores the fact that his smile is like sunshine to her.

  
“We think it has to do with your association and proximity to the stones and the people involved with them.” Princess Shuri – please call me Shuri we’re friends Darcy – informs the room. “Also, there is your DNA-”

  
“Ah!” Bruce Banner suddenly yells cutting Shuri off and making the whole room jump. Darcy ignores her rapidly beating heart as well as the coffee she has now spilled on her sleeve and the floor in favor of making Shuri finish her last sentence.

  
“My DNA? What’s wrong with my DNA??” Darcy demands looking at the four people searching for the weakest link of the bunch. Yet she finds none, except for the slip of the tongue Shuri is now staring at the screen with a pretty impressive poker face. The rest of them have variations of the same expression, so with no choice she turns back to Jane and glares.

  
“What are you not telling me?” Darcy demands, trying to use the tone that usually got Jane to stop ‘sciencing’ and go to sleep. Jane apparently remembers the tone because she looks annoyed as she answers.

  
“Honestly? A lot, but it’s because we don’t want to screw around with the timeline more than we already have and what Shuri meant when she mentioned your DNA.” Jane gives one glance over her shoulder but Shuri’s poker face is still firmly in place.  
“It means you were exposed to the stones; you were around Thor and I before and after I had the aether, you were around Erik before and after he came into contact with the tesseract. We think it saw you as an anomaly and tried to fix the glitch but instead just transferred your consciousness forward in time.” Jane finishes.

  
In Darcy’s limited but still informed catalog knowledge of all thing’s science, Jane’s description seems to check all the boxes.  
Something though still feels off…  
“So, you guys,” Darcy twirls in her chair and points to both Hulk-Bruce and Bucky. “Decide to mess with the timeline and I pay the price?” Darcy scoffs. “Typical.”

  
That gets a snort out of Jane and a laugh out of Shuri.

  
“Soooo do we know how to send me back?” Darcy asks and Jane looks at her with a pleading gaze as if to say please don’t explode over this.

  
“We think that the stones will course correct themselves on their own but it will be a bit of a wait, about six days give or take.”

  
Darcy pauses and rolls the idea over in her head before nodding.

  
“Okay, six days, I can do six days.”

  
The whole room seems to breath out a sigh of relief, which almost makes Darcy snort but she’s distracted by the fact that her whole arm is still covered in coffee-whisky and is in the process of drying into a gross and sticky second skin.

  
“Until then I think I’m gonna take a shower and make another coffee hold the whisky for now.” With a jaunty salute Darcy spins around and walks out of the room feeling a little more informed and a little more suspicious then when she first entered the lab.

  
The room is silent for a few minutes as they listen to Darcy’s soft steps echo in the hallway.

  
“So, we’re not gonna tell her?” Bucky finally asks. Jane is sighing and Bruce is shaking his head.

  
“Look Bucky I know you know your Darcy but that’s not her, right now she’s my new intern Darcy and that Darcy will not be able to deal with all of it.”

  
“I mean we don’t have to tell her everything but-” Jane cuts him off.

  
“She will especially not deal nicely with the fact that she didn’t find out Tony Stark was her uncle until after he died trying to save the universe.”

  
Bucky sighs as he concedes that Jane may be right, he never met 20-year-old Darcy but from what Jane has said she’s just as stubborn and loyal but with way less impulse control.

  
“She would try to fix it, all of it.” Bucky says sadly, Jane nods her head.

  
“It would either kill her emotionally or physically if she tried. So, while she’s here just mums the word.”

  
“Hey.”

  
Everyone jumps and turns to see Darcy standing in the doorway. Shuri sucks in a sharp breath and Jane is already opening her mouth but Darcy beats them all to the punch.

  
“Yeah, missed most of that super-secret conversation, I actually just need someone to point me in the direction of the shower. I definitely forgot where it is.” Before she even finishes speaking Bucky is already nodding and moving towards her.

  
“Think I have the way memorized by now, I’ll show you.” He gestures for her to exit and Darcy only hesitates a second before walking out. She misses the look that Bucky throws the people in the lab before following after her.

  
Which is lucky for her because they were too distracted to see the searching gaze, she threw all of them. She knows they’re hiding something and one way or another Darcy isn’t leaving until she finds out what they are all hiding. Should be easy enough, after all it only takes her an hour tops to trick Jane into eating and sleeping, how hard could this be?


	2. I Tried So Very Hard Not To Lose It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be the last chapter of background exposition for Darcy's benefit, by next chapter the core plot of the series will be set in motion. For now please enjoy the Wintershock cuteness, I tried to put in as much as I can since once Darcy goes back to 2010 we won't be seeing the two of them together for a while.

_“Yes, Indeed, I do feel the weight of the world’s miseries pressing upon me!” – Mirra Alfassa_

Turns out trying to get something out of Jane is a lot harder than it use to be, Darcy doesn’t know whether to be proud or frustrated that Jane has learned. There is also the fact that team science clearly prepped themselves while Darcy was in the shower because the second she opens the bathroom door there stands her supposed 100-year-old husband waiting for her with a smile.

Darcy’s still getting use to that fact, that in the span of about an hour this man went from super clone kidnapper to undead Bucky Barnes, he did make it easier though, his smile was charming and she could tell in just the way he would glance over at her that he really seems to love her. Or loves future her, she hasn’t quite figured that out yet but one does tend to get distracted when a handsome man is staring besottedly at them.

Darcy blinks as she hears Bucky chuckle and she realizes her mind had gone wandering again while she had been openly staring, practically gawking at Bucky. To be fair there isn’t much to look at in the car besides the highway, the trees and Bucky; out of those three it’s easy to say which one Darcy wants to stare at most.

“Don’t laugh at me! You know what you look like. Plus, I’ve seen you stare at me soooo.” Darcy teases making Bucky’s smile grow.

“I’m allowed to look at my wife, aren’t I?” He asks.

“Staring at her without her knowing, it’s like your staring at another woman Barnes, for shame.” She teases again only to have Bucky go quiet. Darcy realizes a second too late it may not be the best thing to remind him that for all he knows his wife’s consciousness is either 15 years back or floating around somewhere.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to-”

“No.” Bucky cuts her off and glances away from the road for a second to meet her eyes. “Look I know it’s a lot, you have no idea how you got here and we aren’t telling you stuff. It doesn’t help that-”

“That you got me out of the superhero compound so I wouldn’t learn it’s secrets and screw up the timeline? Or that you’re driving me into an undisclosed location like a mobster?” Darcy says enticing him with a smile and it works as he smiles again and shakes his head.

“Jesus Christ doll your humor never changes.” He sounds pretty happy about it.

“I’m glad it doesn’t. Why mess with perfection?” Bucky scoffs and turns on his blinker to switch lanes.

“Also, I’m not taking you to an undisclosed location, it’s a cabin and a pretty nice one considering it belongs to Pepper Potts-Stark.”

Darcy pauses.

“Tony Stark married Pepper Potts?”

“Yeah, forgot we didn’t tell you, they got married a while ago, even had a kid, it was all after the event.”

“Ah yes, the mysterious unnamed Event that you won’t even tell me the cool nickname of.”

Bucky raises an eyebrow and glances at her again.

“How do you know it has a cool nickname?”

“Because everything has a nickname, we name hurricanes, we have no impulse control when it comes to these things.” Bucky nods a second later conceding to her point.

“Anyway, you actually got close with Pepper and Morgan - her daughter - after everything happened. You talk about how you lost your dad Pepper says you and Morgan understand each other. The kid too.” Bucky explains and it makes Darcy’s heart fill up with want to snuggle the little girl. Losing her dad at 15 was hard enough she can’t imagine being any younger than that and having to go through all of it. She doesn’t care if Morgan doesn’t technically know her, she’s going to give that little girl the biggest hug ever when they get there.

“Okay, so Morgan and you mentioned another kid?” Darcy asks and Bucky’s brow crinkles in confusion for a second before shaking his head.

“Oh no, the kid is just what I call him, his names Peter, he’s a superhero, Spiderman, kind of self-explanatory and he was Tony Stark’s like protégée or something.” Bucky shrugs. “Kid was raised by his aunt so from what I’ve learned Tony kind of stepped in for the kid. He, you and Morgan are like a trio.”

Darcy sat back in the passenger seat trying to digest all of this information, there were so many people in her life, so much that had happened and she didn’t even know ¼ of what was really going on. She glances at Bucky who she can tell is purposely concentrating on the road; she wasn’t going to get anything out of him or Jane. If she wanted to find out more it means she either has to pry it out of children or just give up. Darcy huffs out a breath in defeat, she was above coercing children to learn their dark family secrets.

“So, I’m going to spend the next few days with the most powerful woman in tech, a mini Tony Stark and a…. Spider Kid?” Darcy asks.

“Well not just them.” Darcy looks over to see Bucky practically smoldering at her. “I mean I’ll visit you too.”

Darcy narrows her eyes at the man before her, who apparently in their marriage has learned to use his looks against her.

“You know exactly what your eyes are doing to me you bastard.”

Bucky lets out a loud laugh at that.

***

The cabin was nice, big and fancy, something you would expect someone like Tony Stark to build for his family complete with a picturesque lake. Darcy could feel herself ogling the whole thing when the front door of the house slammed open. She jumps at the sudden noise and looks over to see two quick blurs rush out the door. One small girl with a huge grin and a young guy with floppy hair chasing after her. Darcy comes to the conclusion that they are Morgan Stark and Peter Parker. She has almost no time to brace herself before Morgan runs right into her. The girl looks about nine but at the speeds she had been going Darcy would be flat on her back right now if she didn’t have Bucky ready to steady her.

Morgan throws her arms around Darcy’s waist causing Darcy to let out a loud oof noise as Bucky puts an arm on the small of her back to keep them from bumping into the car.

“Morgan you’re getting too big to do that, you’re going to knock people off their feet.” Peter says and gives Darcy a smile. The kid is young, too young to have been six in 2010. Darcy looks to Bucky but he just smiles apologetically and shakes his head, no he’s not going to tell her. Darcy sighs and looks back only to be greeted by two pairs of almost identical brown puppy eyes full of happiness and she swears her heart melts at the sight.

“Hey Darcy!” Morgan shouts happily and Darcy looks down at the smiling face, she can’t help but grin back and ruffle the girl’s hair.

“Hey mini Stark what’s up?” Morgan grins at the nickname and it makes Darcy realize she really doesn’t change as a person and somehow that’s a comfort to her. Bucky’s hand moves from her lower back to her shoulder and squeezes, gaining her attention.

“You gonna be okay?” Bucky genuinely looks like if she asked him too, he would put her back in the car and figure something else out, but Darcy smiles and nods her head.

“Yeah, this is great.” She squeezes Morgan closer and the girl giggles when Peter starts to tickle her. For the first time since she woke up this morning Darcy feels herself truly relax.

***

That feeling doesn’t last and that is through no fault of Pepper, Morgan, Peter or Bucky. In fact, it’s the opposite. They all make her feel so at home, so much so that Darcy starts being very suspicious of this whole dynamic. How Pepper looks at her with this almost nostalgic look in her eye, how Peter makes up lame excuses and rushes out of the room looking like he’s about to burst with something. Also, how Bucky suddenly needs her when Morgan starts to babble, honestly by her third day in the future Darcy had given in, if they were that harried about keeping their secrets then Darcy would play nice. She couldn’t help it though if she wasn’t a bit curious, especially about her and Bucky.

On her third night Bucky came over for dinner and after they were finished eating Pepper gave her a knowing smile and shooed them both out to the front porch. She rolls her eyes but allows herself to be pushed away from clearing the dishes. She sees Bucky leaning against the front railing, with his arms crossed. He turns when the door opens and Darcy gets the full effect of James Buchanan Barnes, the messy haircut, the hint of stubble, his piercing blue eyes and how his red Henley clings to his muscular arms and broad shoulders. Darcy licks her lips, mostly to make sure her mouth isn’t hanging open. Bucky just continues to smirk at her.

“You’re such a smug bastard.” Darcy mutters as she rolls her eyes, his grin only gets bigger when Darcy comes to stands next to him, bumping her arm against his. They stand in silence both of them absent mindedly staring at the lake.

“So.” Darcy starts and Bucky glances over at her. Darcy uncrosses her arm and sticks out her left hand in front of both of them. Wiggling her fingers to show off the ring and make Bucky smile. He moves his arm and tugs a chain from under his shirt and Darcy sees the gold wedding band hanging off it. She had been wondering about that, what with the metal arm and everything.

“So how did this thing between the two of us start?” Darcy asks and Bucky is already sighing and turning away but Darcy bumps his shoulder.

“You may as well just tell me, otherwise I’m going to go and look for you way sooner then I probably should.”

“Is that a threat.” Bucky says as he turns back to her a grin already fighting its way onto his face.

“The best threat you’ll ever get.”

Bucky scoffs but he also lets out a sigh which means he’s given in. He stares out into the lake for minute, his eyes darting here and there as he dives into his memories.

“After…The Event.” Bucky starts and Darcy does let out a huff at the name of the unnamed event but Bucky ignores her. “At the beginning everyone went back to regroup and reorganize, we had a lot to establish before anyone could go off and do their own thing. That included Jane which included you because Jane swore you were the only one that could competently get her stuff in working order.”

“Did I at least get paid this time around for being a science wrangler?” Darcy interrupts and Bucky looks over a her, rolling his eyes but nodding his head. She did a little triumphant shoulder wiggle and Bucky goes on.

“Shuri wanted to check on my arm so she brought me down to the lab and at some point, you popped up in front of me, held out your hand and said Hi I’m Darcy Lewis and three generations of women in my family have had to hots for you.”

Darcy burst out laughing and she could see Bucky’s shoulders shaking slightly too.

“That absolutely sounds like me and that statement is 100% true!” Darcy exclaims pointing one finger in the air for emphasis and Bucky just shakes his head.

“Certainly made an impression on me, after that T’Challa insisted that you walk around with Shuri and I because the guy does not trust Shuri and I alone together. Which is totally a good call on his part, we cause chaos.” Darcy laughs and Bucky shifts closer.

“So, you came along and we started talking and we just didn’t stop, I didn’t even know I could talk that much anymore until I looked behind me and realized Shuri had left us alone hours ago.” Darcy stares at Bucky as he stares out into the lake, lost in memory, looking so calm and happy.

“We just kept talking and laughing and then one day I actually got up the nerve to kiss you and we went from there.” Bucky finishes and turns to her but Darcy just continues to stare at him clearly waiting for more. Bucky slowly grows more confused until Darcy sticks her left hand in his face. He takes her hand and stares at the ring, his fingers start to play with her hand, fidgeting with the ring.

“We had to go on a mission one day, needed radio silence for almost three weeks and I missed you like crazy. When we got home even though it was two in the goddamn morning you hadn’t listened to me and were still up waiting.” Bucky looks up at her and Darcy is lost in this man’s gaze, no guy has ever looked at her the way Bucky is looking at her right now.

“You came over and you hugged me. We just stood there and I knew in that second that I felt so at home with you in my arms that I couldn’t let you get away.” Bucky grins before raising Darcy’s hand and twisting it so she could see the glittery stones of the ring.

“So, I asked you right there and two days later slid this on your finger.”

Darcy was speechless for a moment before slowly smiling and taking a step closer to Bucky.

“Who knew you were such a romantic Barnes.” Darcy says sweetly.

“Nah, pretty much just a sap for you.” Bucky says as he gets a firmer grip on Darcy’s hand and guides it to rest on his chest over his heart.

“Well, if I have all that to look forward to then I guess I don’t mind waiting a decade to meet you.” Darcy is still using her teasing lilt but both can tell what she’s saying is true. The two of them just stay their staring at each other, standing close and holding hands. Eventually Darcy will take a step back when they hear a noise by the front window that suspiciously sounds like nosy spying children. Darcy will pull funny faces at the window making Bucky chuckle and then they’ll turn to face the lake again.

Their hands though will still be interlocked and resting in the space between them.

They don’t let go for a while.

***

The next morning everything comes crashing down and Darcy finds out the whole heartbreaking truth of the future. Turns out it is Morgan that spills the beans and Darcy didn’t even have to pry her with any cookies.

She stumbles on Morgan coloring at the kitchen island with fruit and cereal sitting around.

“Hey mini Stark, where’s your mom and Peter?” Darcy asks as she slides onto the stool next to the little girl. Morgan looks up and smiles at Darcy before grabbing a handful of blueberries and concentrating back on her drawings.

“Peter had to go with his Aunt May to something and my mom is taking a shower.” Darcy nods her head and commandeers the bowl of strawberries. She happily munches them as she fully wakes up, she absent mindedly stares at the kids drawing, which are pretty impressive. She scans the stacks of drawings slowly piling up beside her, Morgan continues to color like a little art machine and although Darcy never knew Tony Stark she can tell that this is definitely his daughter. She leans over to take a closer look at the small pile of pictures when she sees spies a photograph. She curiously picks it up to see it’s a close up of two people holding hands. Only their clasped hands and upper wrists can be seen. A weird thing to have a picture of, but the point of it must be to show off the colorful braided friendship bracelets on both the wrists. Darcy smiles, noticing what appears to be Morgan’s handiwork right away. Then she sees something that makes her stop because she’s pretty sure those two people holding hands in the picture are Maggie and herself.

_Why would Morgan have a picture of my sister and I?_

Darcy is baffled but she knows for sure that is definitely her hand on the left, she can see the scar on the thumb she got while trying to hammer boards together for a treehouse from a million summers ago. The wrist on the right has three tiny all caps letters in black BJL, Barry Jasper Lewis, her dad’s initials that Maggie had tattooed on her wrist two years ago.

“Hey Morgan, have you met my sister?” Darcy asks while holding up the photo. In response Morgan turns to Darcy and gives her a look that clearly says have-you-gone-crazy. Darcy waits and Morgan just gets more confused but eventually she slowly nods her head.

“Yes. Are you okay Darcy?” Morgan seems really stupefied right now and Darcy is right there with her.

“Yeah kid I’m fine, just kind of wondering why you made my sister a friendship bracelet.”

Morgan continues to look at Darcy like she’s insane.

“Because you got one and you’re both my cousin?” Morgan explains but it sounds like she’s asking a question. Darcy can feel puzzle pieces slowly coming together creating a picture that she just wasn’t getting yet.

“When you say cousins do you mean that we are all such good friends that we feel like family or…” Darcy is pretty sure from the look on Morgan’s face the young girl is about to check her into a mental asylum.

“No, you’re my actual cousin Darcy, because your mom was my dad’s half-sister. Are you okay?” Morgan looks genuinely worried but Darcy honestly can’t answer her right now because she is in opened mouth shock at the moment.

“I’m going to get my mom.” Morgan says and Darcy doesn’t even notice the girl running out of the kitchen because she’s pretty sure she’s still in shock. Tony Stark is her uncle and she’s not sure she even got to tell him because he’s dead.

“Darcy?” Pepper’s worried tone comes from the doorway and Darcy turns to see the woman already reaching out for her with a worried Morgan Stark clinging to her side. Darcy just stares at them and Pepper sighs sadly before turning and crouching down to look her daughter in the eye.

“It’s okay Morgan, Darcy just had a confusing dream, she’s fine.” Pepper looks over to Darcy practically begging Darcy to comfort her child. Darcy manages a weak gulp and clears her throat.

“Yeah Morgan I’m sorry, Pepper’s right I had a dream and it confused the hell out of me. Of course I remember we’re cousins.” Morgan nods slowly looking at Darcy as Darcy shakily gets up from the table.

“I just, need some fresh air, is it okay if…. Aunt Pepper comes with me?” Darcy tries to sound confident but she is borderline freaking out, if they hid this then what else did they hide just to save her and the timeline?

Pepper can tell from Darcy’s expression that this was not a request so Pepper gives her a nod and turns back to Morgan. Darcy spins around and heads for the front door. She marches outside and down the front steps, then she just keeps walking until she gets to the edge of the lake. She looks out at the calm water reflecting early morning light and tries to take some deep breaths. The silence is broken a few seconds later when she hears Pepper’s slow steps approaching her. She stops a few feet behind Darcy and waits a moment.

“Darcy?” Pepper asks again hesitantly and Darcy spins around to see a sad woman with pity in her eyes staring back at her. “I’m sorry you found out this way, we didn’t want you to find out at all- “

“So, I never knew him? He died before I got to even talk to him?” Darcy doesn’t know why this feels like such a huge loss to her but it feels like everything has been turned around. She waits and all Pepper does is shake her head.

“No one found out until after everything happened.” Pepper says. It’s surprising that this is what makes Darcy snap but honestly, she always knew she was going to start demanding answers eventually. With the reminder that people were still avoiding the subject with her by brushing off “the event” turned out to be the last straw.

“Everything? The event? what does that all mean?” She practically shouts. Pepper tries to take a step closer.

“Darcy-” Pepper starts but Darcy is on a roll now.

“You told me you’re trying to not mess with time anymore but did you ever consider what I would do once I went back?” Darcy pauses but Pepper says nothing. “If I left not knowing anything except that everyone here is in pain, I would try to fix it even if I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing! All I see is Morgan and Peter near tears every time Tony Stark gets mentioned, Bucky just disassociates sometimes, Jane is always stressed out and Bruce Banner fused with the Hulk because life was too hard for him! You think someone would see all this then go back and pretend like nothing was going to go horribly horribly wrong?” Darcy takes a steadying breath and Pepper looks shocked. Darcy keeps breathing as Pepper slowly gets closer to her.

“Darcy, you can’t fix all this, no one can and Jane said you would drive yourself crazy or kill yourself over trying.” Pepper puts an hand on Darcy’s shoulder. “None of us want that for you.”

“So, I can’t fix everything but what if I could fix some things? Make some things better? Then maybe it would be like I don’t know dominoes?” Darcy had no clue where her thought process was going but she was desperate to help, desperate to give Morgan her dad back and take some of that endless sadness out of Bucky Barnes.

“Darcy none of us knew what would happen, when Bruce did his experiments, when Tony went to Afghanistan, when they unfroze Steve. None of us knew what we were getting into.” Pepper is trying but Darcy has always been stubborn about letting things go.

“Yeah, but you all had the choice whether you could face it all or not. Shouldn’t I make that choice?” Darcy is looking into Pepper’s eyes and she can tell that Pepper does want to tell her, does want to change things but she’s scared. Darcy takes the hand on her shoulder in her own and squeezes it. Neither of them has to be alone in this.

Pepper sighs and closes her eyes just standing there for a minute before nodding her head.

“I’ll tell you. Everything, everything that happened, but I need you to really think before you leap into anything, no one wants you to get hurt for them.” Pepper pleads and Darcy is already nodding her head. Pepper sighs again and then looks down as she lowers herself into a sitting position near the edge of the lake. Darcy quickly follows sitting across from her, Pepper looks over Darcy’s shoulder off into the distance and she begins to speak.

“In 2010 where you came from you had just dealt with Thor, a few days before that the Hulk was tearing apart Harlem.”

***

It took two hours for Pepper to tell her everything, she left for the house her voice hoarse from talking and crying. Darcy stayed seated , she faces the lake and tryes to wipe up her own tears and come to terms with the fact that people she cared about and people she will care about went through so much in just a decade.

She doesn’t know how long she sits there until she hears the heavy footsteps approaching her. She doesn’t need to look back to guess it’s Bucky, what she is wondering is if someone called him or he just has an ingrained “Darcy sense” in him. He settles down beside her and presses his shoulder into hers. Darcy doesn’t hesitate for a second, just leans over and rests her head on his shoulder. They sit their silently, Bucky not knowing how to begin and Darcy contemplating how the man sitting next to her ever got through the last few years.

“Where’s everyone else?” Darcy finally manages to rasp out. Bucky shifts his head until he was looking down at her and waited until Darcy tilted her head up to look at him.

“The people that are still around, like Wanda Maximoff and Sam Wilson.”

Bucky nods before looking back up and out to the lake.

“Sam and I ended up sticking together, we do some missions that people call us for help on. We tried to clean out any lingering Hydra and sometimes we piss each other off and go drinking on Friday nights.” Darcy manages a chuckle as she snuggles closer to him and Bucky smiles, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“But people like Wanda and Thor, I don’t know. Ever since we fixed the snap, we’re not really a team anymore. I know Clint refuses to do anything and only comes in to make sure his family is safe. He basically hates everyone for taking Natasha away.”

Bucky sounds broken and she notices he avoids talking about Steve and Tony, the former probably too painful and the latter still a weird subject.

Peter looked sad, Morgan looked sad, Pepper and Bucky seemed broken, the whole world seemed like it was one big mess and honestly Darcy didn’t want to return to a past if this was the future, even the little happiness she has seems to be tainted by the deeds and destruction of others. She can feel tears start to fill her eyes again, she feels so mad and helpless and she has no clue what to do about it.

She feels Bucky reach over when her tears start to fall, she gladly takes his hand and holds on tight, it’s the only thing she can think to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's sad but won't be for long, next chapter I promise more awesome Darcy and Pepper!
> 
> I also don't have a posting schedule but my hope is to at least get out a chapter per week and take it from there.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it and are excited for more!


	3. I Talk Myself In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm hitting an amazing writing roll right now and plan to keep writing until I inevitably slow down, for now please enjoy the quick updates!

_“One of the hardest decisions you’ll ever face in life is choosing whether to walk away or try harder.” – Ziad K. Abdelnour_

Jane calls her the morning of the fifth day to tell her that Bucky was going to drive her back to the compound since they weren’t sure if she would be going back tonight or tomorrow night. The thought of going back makes Darcy jittery with nerves. She’s worried that it won’t work, she’s worried that it will work and she’ll mess something up. She’s worried that it will work and she won’t mess anything up.

All these thoughts keep circling and bouncing around in her head as she finishes making her bed. She sighs and runs her fingers through her hair, causing it to get even more unruly than it already was. She reaches for her ponytail holder and turns when she hears a high-pitched squeal coming from outside.

She moves over to her window and smiles at the sight of Morgan running into the arms of a newly returned Peter Parker. He grabs her and throws her up in the air, electing loud giggles out of Morgan.

If anything comes out of this Darcy knows that she’s going to make sure those two kids are okay, no one could object to Darcy stepping in as a protective cousin. It was a harmless change. She nibbles on her lip in worry as she watches the two kids run around chasing each other. Both Pepper and Bucky told her it was too risky for her to make changes, Jane had called her and discouraged it. They all told her the best thing she could do was try to forget everything she had learned.

Yet that was the one thing Darcy knew she couldn’t do.

She suddenly tastes blood and realizes all her nervous nibbling has cut up her lip and she groans in annoyance and exhaustion. She looks at the happy faces of Peter and Morgan and decides to soak up some of their pure sunshiny personality in the hopes of it lifting her mood.

She makes her way downstairs and hears Pepper behind the closed door of the woman’s home office so she passes through the kitchen and picks up the pitcher of lemonade and cups left on the counter before walking out to the porch.

“Lemonade.” Darcy shouts to the kids and smiles when she hears the identical cheers as they both come running over, both breathless from their game of tag.

Peter and Darcy smile as they watch Morgan chug down two full glasses of lemonade rapidly. Ignoring both of them when they tell her to slow down, she bangs her cup down on the table and wipes her mouth with her arm.

“I’m going to go pick flowers by the lake, we can make flower crowns!” Morgan says excitedly and Peter nods at her.

“Just stay where we can see you.” Peter tells her and Morgan nods rapidly before zooming off towards the patch of wildflowers. Peter and her stare after the now energized little girl as she jumps from flower to flower. Darcy looks at Peter and admires the serene look of calm on his face as he watches Morgan.

“She’s lucky to have you.” Darcy says and Peter looks over to her in question, Darcy nods towards Morgan and Peter smiles.

“Nah, I’m the lucky one, Morgan and Pepper are great. Aunt May loves both of them too. It’s nice…” Peter seems to zone out as he stares at Morgan and it appears again, the sad longing look that Peter gets when he thinks about Tony Stark.

She should not do this; she should not bring this up. But one thing everyone knows about Darcy is she’s a woman of action and she can’t let things lie.

“So, they all think I’m going back soon.” She starts and thinks over what to say next as Peter turns to look at her. “Is there anything you want me to like say…or do?” Darcy manages to get out. Peter just stares at her; his eyes going wide in slight shock and maybe hope.

“Are you asking me if you should change things?” Peter asks and Darcy isn’t mistaken when she hears the small bit of wonder in his voice.

Darcy blows out a breath and fidgets with her hands.

“I guess what I’m asking is what would you do? I mean you, Morgan, Pepper, Bucky and I guess Clint Barton have the most to lose out of all of this. So…if you had the chance what do you think you would do?”

Peter’s mouth opens and closes and Darcy is pretty sure the teenager is in shock. He blinks rapidly and shakes his head as if that would clear his thoughts. He looks at Darcy then looks back out at Morgan.

“I wanna change it all but I know that’s not right. I mean what if I change so much that no superheroes come? Or what if I Marty McFly away Morgan?” Peter looks at Darcy with genuine panic in his eyes.

“But he changed things in Back to the Future.” Darcy adds, knowing her mother’s favorite movie by heart. Peter’s eyes squint as they zone out and Darcy can tell Peter is actually thinking this through. So, she leaves the tiny genius to his thoughts, pours him another glass of lemonade and watches Morgan while she waits.

“He got the same results but he found new ways of getting there.” Peter finally says and Darcy sees he looks visibly excited at this revelation.

“He still got his parents to kiss at the dance he just took them on a different path to get there. So, you could change things, if you worked out how to get to the same place from a different route.” Peter was smiling and Darcy was staring at him open mouthed.

Had he just cracked it?

“Peter come and help me!” Morgan calls and Peter’s gaze instantly snaps back to the little girl. He smiles and nods at her but he turns to Darcy first and stares at her with a gleam in his eye. Darcy gets it and nods, Peter nods back and the boy runs out to Morgan.

Darcy lets out a breath and lets the railing take the majority of her weight as she rubs her face. With new solutions comes more problems because Darcy may have made her choice but she had absolutely no clue where to even start. She rests her chin in her hands, watching as Morgan tears grass up and sprinkles it into Peter’s hair. The teen pretends to be surprised and shakes his head like a dog. It sends Morgan laughing and Darcy smiling.

Whatever she decided to do she had to make sure that Peter Parker was protected and Morgan Stark was born, the world was a little bit better with both of them in it.

***

Darcy watches from the doorway as Pepper Potts-Stark moves around her kitchen. Darcy still can’t imagine how this amazing woman could go through so much and still have the energy to raise her daughter and run Stark Industries. Yet Pepper Potts did it and appeared to do it with not even a hair out of place.

Darcy clears her throat and Pepper looks up from where she had been smiling down at the wilting bunches of flowers spread out around her kitchen counter.

“Bucky’s here, he’s going to drive me back because they think I might go back tonight. Or tomorrow night, they just want to be sure.” Darcy is babbling, she’s nervous but Pepper just gives her a gentle smile and encloses her in a soft hug.

“I’m sorry this happened to you Darcy, I’m sorry you had to find out all this.” Pepper does sound truly sorry and it makes Darcy squeeze Pepper tight for a second longer before letting her go.

“Don’t worry Pepper, I’m okay.” She gives Pepper a smile and Pepper nods her head back.

“Everything will be fine.” Darcy says trying not to emphasize her words, still not knowing if she wants Pepper to know what she’s planning to do. But if Pepper has any idea of Darcy’s plan, she doesn’t show it. She only squeezes Darcy’s hand before following her outside to find Morgan.

Bucky holds the door open for her and Darcy looks around eyes finally landing on Bucky and she smiles. She can’t fix everything for him, she can’t save him he has to do that himself but she can help him. She can make sure he gets more happier memories.

She can’t fix everything but if she can make Bucky and Pepper smile then she’ll consider it a victory.

***

When she gets back to the compound Bucky leaves, having to go to a meeting with Sam and basically tells her to ask Friday if she needs or wants anything. Darcy guesses since she knows all the big secrets now, she gets free reign of the superhero fortress. Which is good considering she’s going to need to talk to a science person to start working out her plans.

Jane will smell her bullshit from a mile away and since it would be suspicious to randomly call the Princess of Wakanda up for a casual chat that leaves Dr. Bruce Banner/Mini Hulk.

Turns out having an AI system hooked up to the building was really handy but Darcy admits that even she could have guessed that Bruce would be in one of the labs.

It was still weird to see the man tall and green; the whole concept was weird but she could understand why Bruce would do it. He just wanted himself back in any way he could get it, she just feels bad that this was the only way he could have it. Not bad enough to not trick Bruce into helping her but it helps Darcy’s conscious to know that she’s not totally okay with manipulating innocent people.

“Dr. Banner?” Darcy calls as she knocks on the door frame making Bruce look up at her. He smiles kindly and honestly that makes the whole Hulk body a little better, maybe a little more human.

“Darcy, almost ready to go home?” He asks as he continues to tinker with his work. Darcy takes that as her invitation to enter the lab and makes her way to the table.

“It’s like a relief and a burden at the same time you know.” Darcy says and Bruce makes a hmm noise and nods his head.

“Bucky told us that Pepper told you everything. That honestly is a conundrum. To know the future and not change anything.”

Darcy blinks in surprise, Bruce Banner almost absent mindedly seemed to say the perfect words to help Darcy lead in to her questions. He looks up when she doesn’t answer right away and starts to open his mouth but stops suddenly. He looks shocked and confused which makes Darcy more confused, she feels herself tilt her head a little and this makes Bruce actually drop what he’s doing and look closer at her.

“Dr. Banner are you okay?” Darcy has no clue what turn this conversation took because she is lost. Bruce blinks a few more times and seems to come back to reality as he takes a step back and chuckles nervously.

“I’m sorry I just had a very strange moment of de ja vu, not sure where it came from. You just reminded me of someone.”

Oh, that makes sense.

“You’re probably thinking of my mom.” Darcy says and once again Bruce looks baffled.

“Do I know your mother?”

“Yeah, Holly Brighton-Goldberg? I mean she goes by Holly Lewis now but she told me you two knew each other in high school.”

“Holly?” Bruce says with surprise and wonder in his voice as he stares at Darcy, his eyes moving all over her face until he seems to find what he’s looking for and nods his head.

“My god that’s it, your confused face. I can’t believe I remember it. She use to make it all the time.” Bruce seems breathless as he becomes lost in memories.

“Yeah, she said you tutored her in 10th grade chemistry, apparently she was confused through most of it.” Darcy lets out a slight chuckle that is matched with Bruce’s breathy one. 

“Oh gosh yeah I remember.” Bruce sounds so fond. “I remember that she thought her laugh was ridiculous but it was great, I would try to get her to laugh, I did it so much we got kicked out of the library.” Bruce is looking up at the ceiling and completely lost in his head, it was like he was 16 again and all the mattered was making Holly Brighton-Goldberg smile and scrunch up her nose in that certain way.

“We even went out, once but then…” Bruce trails off as he comes back to reality.

“They moved, to Philadelphia, for my Momo’s job.” Darcy smiles over the funny name her and her siblings had chosen for their grandmother. The smile quickly wipes off her face as she watches Bruce Banner almost wilt at the reminder that he hadn’t spoken to Holly in years. Suddenly Darcy doesn’t want to ransack Bruce for answers because she’s pretty sure she just added helping Bruce date her mother to her ever growing list of things for her to do.

“If you could change anything, even if you didn’t know if it would make everything better would you do it?” Darcy asks and almost steps back with the weight of Bruce’s gaze on her. But she stares at this man, this man who took her mother on her first date and then went on to live with a monster inside him for years. She remembers her mother seeing what happened to Bruce Banner on the news and crying, how the whole family had gone on Hulk watch full well knowing their mother wanted their help hiding a fugitive with an anger problem if they happen to find him.

She remembers not hearing anything from the Hulk for years and forgetting about him. But now that she sees him again Darcy is starting to understand why her mother was crying for Bruce Banner, she adds Bruce to the list of people to protect and waits for Bruce to answer her question.

“Don’t do it alone.”

Bruce is dead serious as he says this, like he’s imparting the secret of the universe onto Darcy.

“If you do anything just don’t do it alone because everything seems worse when you’re alone.” Bruce finishes and then he pointedly goes back to work. Darcy stands there for a second waiting for more but Bruce is now ignoring her, maybe pretending that she never came in so if Jane asks, he can lie to her. Darcy nods her head and swallows down the urge to cry. She turns and silently leaves the lab.

She walks aimlessly down the hallways until she can’t tell where the hell she is and then just sits against a wall her legs splayed out in front of her and thinks.

Bruce is right, there is no way she can do any of this alone, she can’t be everywhere at once and how did she suspect anyone to believe her in the first place? Sure, they all knew her now but back in 2010 no one knows her, she’s just the intern who tasered Thor. She could just tell Tony Stark that he’s her uncle, he could help but he’s constantly going on his own emotionally tiring journey. Bruce is off being angsty as the Hulk and Thor cannot be trusted to be punctual for anything. Darcy takes a deep breath and closes her eyes trying to think of the reason that Peter and Bruce were willing to consider her theory while Bucky and Jane weren’t. It was simple, Peter and Bruce had a lot more at stake, they had things that they were willing to risk time and reality for; what Darcy needed was competent people who had power and sway to help her that would also be willing to take time altering risks.

On a team of superheroes, it turns out that not a lot of them are mentally stable or competent enough to fill all those requirements.

Then Darcy thinks of Pepper, the want that echoed in her eyes, she wants Tony back. A lightbulb blinks to life and Darcy’s eyes fly open as she realizes who she needs to call. She jumps up and starts walking down the hall.

“Hey Friday is there a conference room with video call that I can commandeer?”

“Yes Mrs. Lewis-Barnes but you are going the wrong way, the elevator is in the other direction.” Friday practically sasses in response. Darcy just spins and starts marching in the other direction, nothing was going to bring down her momentum!

***

Unsurprisingly the compound has dozens of conference rooms, all with WIFI and high-tech gizmos. Darcy picks a small brightly lit one and spends the next half hour pacing the room and making sure she has her wording right because she knows that she has limited time and one shot at all of this.

“Okay you can do this.” Darcy motivates herself. She takes some deep breaths and shakes out her excess energy before facing the head of the table.

“Friday, call Pepper Potts-Stark.” Darcy commands and Friday pings in recognition, pulling up the video screen. Darcy starts biting her lip even though she knows it’s just going to start bleeding again like this morning. Pepper’s confused face suddenly fills the screen and Darcy jumps a little as she straightens up.

“Darcy? Why are you calling? Is everything okay?” Pepper asks clearly concerned. Darcy takes another deep breath and nods.

“Everything is fine, will be fine. I just need you to come down to the compound.”

She can see Pepper’s skeptical look clear as day.

“Why?”

“Because I need your help, I’m going to fix everything but I know now I can’t do it alone.” 

Pepper closes her eyes and sighs before giving Darcy a sad look.

“Darcy we’ve been over this, I would, I want too but we don’t know the risk.” Pepper starts and Darcy was prepared for this so she cuts her off.

“I know we don’t know the risk, but the thing is you’ve been taking risky chances all your life, you took a risk by working for Stark, you took a risk having a family with him, you told me you trusted him enough to take a risk and put on the suit he made you. What I’m talking about has the same odds or even better ones. This is a chance to have him back. To make everything a little better than before. I’m just asking you to trust me and take one more risk.” Darcy finishes her speech with a bit of a flourish and waits, body tense with worry. Pepper just stares at her for a second before a breathless laugh escapes her and she smiles a little.

“I have to meet your mother because I swear you act just like Tony.” Pepper smiles more and finally nods her head.

“I’ll have Happy drive Morgan and Peter to May’s house and I’ll make my way over to you.”

Darcy lets herself celebrate a little and claps excitedly as Pepper hangs up the call. It feels like the weight of the world has been lifted off her shoulders. Only for it to be put back on her shoulders a few seconds later when she realizes she still has another call to make.

She sends up a silent prayer before speaking to Friday.

“Friday, please call Clint Barton.” 

The screen lights up again and a dial tone is heard, it takes longer this time but a few seconds later Darcy can hear the sound of a phone being picked up.

_So, no cameras in the house, makes sense._

“Who is this?” A low male voice asks and it takes Darcy a minute to fight through her panic and learn how to speak again.

“Clint Barton?”

There was a pause before the confused voice of Clint Barton came through again.

“Darcy?”

“You know who I am?” Darcy dumbly asks then feels like hitting herself, of course he knows who Bucky’s wife is.

“Yeah, we’ve met before, why are you calling me?”

“Um… did anyone let you know about the time traveling thing?”

“Yeah, Sam called me to let me know but I told him I wanted nothing to do with it, no offense.” Darcy shakes her head in response even though he can’t see it.

“No, none taken but that is actually sort of the reason why I called.”

Another stretch of silence comes.

“Look Darcy-”

She talks quickly.

“Natasha Romanoff!” She practically shouts which causes the silence to return. Darcy tries to fill it as fast as she can.

“She was your partner, your friend. You cared about her and from what I’ve been told your family cared about her too.”

“Shut up or I’m hanging up.” Clint suddenly barked through his phone.

Okay so he’s mad now.

Darcy just talked faster.

“I realized that me going back with all this information could be a huge opportunity, I can’t change everything, I mean there are some things that probably have to happen. But there are a lot of things that can be changed, they can be made better or maybe avoided all together. But I can’t do it alone, back there I’m a college intern in the middle of the Thor situation. The only thing I can do is try to talk to Nick Fury or Phil Coulson and we both know they are both going to ignore me or like super spy silence me, I don’t know. I need people that they can trust to convince them I’m not crazy and listen to me. I need help because I think I could change things and bring back people that we lost but I need you to help me do that.” Darcy takes a huge breath, practically panting from how fast she had to talk to get that all out.

She’s also starting to think that Clint Barton is the strong silent type judging by how many long stretches of nothing that he’s giving her.

“What do you need from me?” Clint finally says.

Darcy smiles and fist pumps.

“I already called Pepper and she’s heading to the compound, we need to plan all this out, like literally plan what I’m going to be doing for the next decade. It needs to also be in a way I can memorize and write down once I get back to good old 2010. Which is either in a few hours or tomorrow night, whenever the past decides to suck me back up. I also need a way to get past you on board with this scheme.”

“Alright I’ll head your way now.” Then Clint hangs up without another word and Darcy huffs a bit at that.

“So, he’s going to be a tougher nut to crack, hopefully past him has a better sense of humor.”

***

It took them both an hour to make their way to the compound and Darcy spent that hour gathering supplies, making snack runs and ducking into supply closets every time she thought she saw Jane or Bucky. In the end all three of the of them sit around the table staring at each other while Darcy continuously sips the coffee, she brought in.

“You have no clue how to start this do you?” Clint Barton asks her and she can tell from his tone he’s not trying to be mean but his resting face looks like he’s about to murder her.

“Well, not really I mean you two lived it I’m just the observer for right now. We have to decide what goes and what stays.” Pepper made an agreeable noise and Clint continues to stare at her so Darcy goes on.

“I mean there are some things we can’t change, like the battle of New York has to happen because you guys got together that way and the fall of SHIELD has to happen-

“Woah woah woah woah.” Clint Barton interrupts finally breaking out of his resting murder face. “We just let Hydra pal around and screw with the fucking world? Why don’t we take them down?” Clint looks like he wants to punch a Hydra agent right now which makes Darcy hesitate before finally going on.

“Well, if we wait and let SHIELD fall then we know exactly what Hydra is going to do but if we stop it earlier then we have no clue what to expect and could make everything worse. It seems like more of a wait and watch situation.” Darcy finishes and then feels pleased as both Pepper and Clint now have impressed looks on their faces.

“How did you come up with that?” Pepper asks and Darcy shrugs while smiling.

“My brother got me into D&D, I know how to plan a battle strategy.”

Neither of them responded for a minute and then Clint was snorting in laughter while Pepper shook her head and murmured something happily to herself.

“But I think the first thing we need to figure out is how I’m going to get you two to trust me. To do that…” Darcy trails off as she thinks and Pepper steps in.

“I thought that over and if we both tell you something no one else knows, something impossible for you to know unless what you’re saying is true.”

Darcy looks between the two of them hesitantly.

“Are you both comfortable with that?” Pepper is already shaking her head.

“No, but if it helps get Tony back then I’m willing to air my dirty laundry.”

Darcy looks back at Clint and he just nods in agreement. Pepper takes a steadying breath and stands up instantly grabbing the attention in the room.

“This was buried by Tony when I became his personal assistant and when he gave me the company, he locked it down so tight that I’m at least 75% sure not even SHIELD may know this.” Pepper’s fingers start taping out a rhythm on the table, the only sign that she was nervous.

“When I was 15 my aunt had to take in my brothers and I for a year. We were basically in foster care but she managed to grab us before we went into the system. My parents…. they had issues, their fights were screaming matches and they would throw things. Not at each other but they would try to break them against walls. The police were called so much that they took us out of that house. When they went to counseling my father had to go to anger management and they both had to undergo psych evaluations.” Pepper pauses and looks down collecting herself. Darcy reaches out and takes her hand, Pepper squeezes it back.

“It was fine, they got help and there wasn’t anything medically wrong with them but if those records got out there would be so many questions, so many problems for Tony and I that we both agreed we didn’t want to bring my family into the limelight like that. So, Tony took the records and with my families permission locked them up and threw away the key.” Pepper finishes and sits down with a steadying breath still holding on to Darcy’s hand.

“We actually didn’t know that so Stark did a good job.” Clint says a few minutes later and Pepper looks at him and gives him a slight nod. She then turns back to Darcy.

“So just remember Aunt’s house and Psych Eval and I’ll believe anything you say.” Pepper finishes and gives Darcy her hand back. Darcy pulls a note pad over and starts scribbling.

“I do well at memorizing key phrases so if we can break everything down to that I’ll be able to remember it and write it out the long way after I recruit both of you.” Darcy tells them as she finishes writing out Pepper’s secret. She then turns to Clint who is now deep in contemplation and staring at Darcy as if he was trying to figure out her deepest secret. He did that for so long that when he finally spoke Darcy jumps.

“I was in love with Natasha.”

Darcy blinks and waits a second but he doesn’t go on so she starts to write that down

“Laura was also in love with Natasha.”

That stopped her thought process for a second as she looks back up at Barton.

“Your wife Laura?” Pepper asks quietly and Clint nods before sighing and practically melting into the table as he slumps down in his chair.

“We didn’t tell each other because we were both so worried. We didn’t want to lose each other by telling them that we still loved each other but also loved Natasha.” Clint rubbed his hand over his face. “By the time we both admitted it to each other it was too late. Natasha was gone.” Clint looks back up at Darcy and she finally sees the emotion break through on his face.

“You need to tell me that Laura and I are both in love with Natasha and we need to stop wasting time and tell her. If you say that I’m going to react badly but just give me a few minutes and I swear after I call Laura or whatever I will probably follow you into Hell.”

Clint looks so serious and Darcy is finally starting to grasp what he and his family lost. She nods and she writes it down. Clint takes a breath and then gets up and heads towards the coffee pot.

“So, like when you tell Fury that you’re related to Stark can I be in the room when you do because honestly his reaction is probably gonna be priceless.” Barton said a new lightness in his voice. Pepper suddenly laughs and the whole room seems to lighten. Darcy is starting to realize that a little hope can go a long way.

“If I can I will not only do that but I will also take pictures.” Darcy says and Clint actually cracks a smile.

“See now you have my eternal loyalty, it’s that easy.”

Pepper practically giggles before she clears her throat and presses a button to pull up a computer screen. She then reaches for a notepad and clicks open a pen. She’s in business mode and it’s fascinating to watch.

“Alright let’s get started.” Pepper practically commands and Darcy can’t help but smile. She has Barton and Pepper behind her, how hard could this really be?

***

Three hours later the room is plastered with sheets of paper and sticky notes, seven computer screens are up and they’ve gone through three pots of coffee. Darcy is laying face down on the floor while Barton tries to toss paper balls at her without touching her and Pepper is digging out the last of the six pens she had absentmindedly stuffed in her hair.

Darcy would like to retract her statement; this was fucking hard.

“Alright I think that’s the last of it.” Pepper says which makes Darcy perk up. Clint’s last paper ball hits her right in the face and she flips him off. They both gather around the table as Pepper lays out their notes. The detailed ones written out in a notebook with Darcy’s shortened notes on flash cards, as if she’s studying for a test. It seems weird that the future of the universe now sits on 5 by 3 flashcards in Darcy’s precise penmanship but that’s what it is. If Darcy wants to fix things, she’s gonna have to cram for this like she did Senior year of high school for the SAT’s. Darcy takes the cards in her hand and stares at them for a moment before looking up at Barton and Pepper. Both looking at her full of confidence. Darcy takes a calming breath and smiles at them.

She’s so gonna ace this fucking test.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I went way deeper on Bruce Banner than I planned, it turns out Bruce Banner and his happiness are very important to me.
> 
> By the end of the next chapter we'll be back in 2010 and on track to the first Avengers movie!
> 
> Thank you to all my readers, followers, reviewers and kudos-givers
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it and are excited for more!


	4. I Might Have To Wait

_“Love requires sacrifice, but it’s worth it.” – The Longest Ride_

Darcy wakes up in the Avengers compound surrounded by all her flashcards, she had fallen asleep mid memorization and she has the drool and messy hair to prove it. She brushes the cards off of her and sits up rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She looks all around at the mess of flashcards spread out and slightly crumpled on the bed and breathes a sigh of relief that Bucky is being a gentleman by sleeping somewhere else. If he walked in to see all these, he would probably be having a fit right now, the man is a mother hen by nature. Darcy smiles at the thought before quickly gathering up the flashcards, making sure to smooth out the ones she crumpled and puts them all in a neat stack in the drawer of her nightstand. She needed a shower and some food before she tried to memorize anymore future facts and figures.

But a new realization came to her when she was conditioning her hair, she had been reviewing everything she knew about Wakanda and her plan to get Bucky there when it hit her. Changing Bucky’s path meant that they wouldn’t meet in the same way, they might not fall in love or get married.

The thought made her knees go weak and she had to lean against the shower wall to keep herself standing. Darcy was baffled over how much this was affecting her, yes, she wanted Bucky to be happy and to help him any way she could because he deserved it. But then Darcy remembers how Bucky looks at her, stares at her with love in his eyes, how he holds her hand with reverence and how warm it felt when he held her as she cried over finding out the truth.

If you had asked Darcy before this, if it was possible to fall in love with a person in six days or less, she would have told you that was insane, but now, now she wasn’t so sure. Darcy takes a deep breath and checks to make sure she got all the conditioner out of her hair before turning off the water and grabbing a towel. She squeezes the water out of her hair and wraps the towel securely around herself before moving to the sink where she had taken her ring off before getting into the shower.

She picks it up now and stares at it in the bathroom lights turning it in all directions and watching the stones sparkle. Darcy had managed to poke a few more tidbits of information out of Bucky and he told her the ring represented them. The clear, hard diamonds were him and she was the rubies, colorful, loud, beautiful and surrounding him, completing him. Darcy had openly cried and smacked him for making her cry over his sappiness, he had laughed and hugged her. After experiencing something like this it was hard to possibly say goodbye to it. But she knew she couldn’t be this selfish. What she was doing was for the betterment of the entire world.

She takes a deep breath and slips the ring back on her finger, making a fist so she could feel the metal band. She just had to remember that no matter what, even if it was just as a friend, she would have Bucky in her life. He would be happy and healthy; she will have him and her friends and family and if that’s all she gets well then that’s just going to have to be enough.

Darcy looks back at herself in the mirror and groans when she sees her eyes were watering. She’s blinking rapidly and taking deep calming breaths when she hears a knock on the bedroom door.

“One second.” She calls and splashes her face with cold water to get rid of any redness. She throws on her robe and grabs a brush to start working through her wet hair as she walks over to the door.

When she opens it, Bucky is waiting on the other side.

Darcy orders her heart to stop fluttering right this second.

“Hey!” She says with a big smile and probably too much enthusiasm but Bucky just smiles back.

“Hey.” He continues to stand there with his hands in his pocket, rocking a little on his feet. They kind of just stand there looking at each other for a second, Bucky rocking and Darcy brushing. Then she remembers that this is technically both her and Bucky’s room and she immediately steps aside.

“I’m so sorry do you need something?” Darcy asks gesturing for him to come in but he already has his hands out of his pockets to wave her off. He actually looks flustered now.

“Sorry sorry no I already have enough stuff until tomorrow I’m not here to get into the room I just-” He stops and sighs, running his fingers through his hair. “Sorry I didn’t expect it to be this weird.”

“Didn’t expect what to be weird?”

“Asking you out on a date.”

Darcy .exe has stopped working.

“Give that to me one more time.” Darcy asks as she tilts her head as if she was trying to get water out of ears. Bucky lets out a self-deprecating laugh and he looks up at the ceiling for a second. Darcy likes flustered Bucky, it’s a nice change from smooth smug Bucky that always sends her blushing.

“This is your last night and I know we aren’t going to see each other for years. A lot of stuff is going to happen and I just thought it would be fun for me to get to know 20-year-old you.” Bucky explains and then waits. Darcy wants to say yes but takes a slight glance back in the room where the flashcards are hidden. Honestly, she knows she has time, she knows she can do this and if she’s going to possibly lose Bucky, she would like at least one proper date.

“Once again your charm has won you a date Mr. Barnes.” Darcy gives him a smile and Bucky claps his hands together excitedly, his smile blinding.

“Great! Don’t worry about anything I’ve got it handled just be ready when I come here around eight?” Bucky asks and Darcy nods. He continues to smile wide and goofy. He starts to turn to go down the hall before he suddenly turns around and kisses Darcy on the cheek. She knows her face is red right now and she can see that confident smug grin on Bucky’s face as he walks down the hall.

Darcy once again watches him go because damn is, she going to miss that view.

***

Clint had stuck around, just to make sure that there were no problems with Darcy going back home. Honestly, he was emanating half bodyguard/ half dad energy. Either way, when Darcy went to him and asked for help on memorization, he had some “out of the box” ways of studying.

“You know when I asked for help this isn’t really what I was thinking.”

“Sounds like that’s your problem Lewis.”

“If I stuck you with this then it would become your problem.” Darcy says as she raises the dart and bats the pointy tip near Clint’s shoulder. Clint just rolls his eyes and takes a step away, out of Darcy’s range and throws his dart to the far wall. It of course hits right dead center in one of the targets he had set up.

Basically, Clint had grabbed her cards and disappeared and when Darcy had finally caught up, she found that Clint had commandeered all the targets in the training room and had stuck the flash cards in various places. They now stood about five feet away holding darts.

“Stop stalling and aim Lewis.” Barton demands and Darcy practically growls at him but nonetheless faces the target. She sets up her shot, aims and her dart flies over managing to not hit anything.

“Wow.” Barton says and Darcy regrets dragging Clint Barton out of the silent brooding hole he had dug for himself.

Because Clint Barton is a sarcastic little shit.

Darcy turns back around and grabs a dart with the intention of stabbing Clint with it. She turns and doesn’t even get to aim it as Clint has silently moved behind her and stopped her arm from moving forward with the dart. He looks at her with one eyebrow raised in a judgmental manner.

“So, you wanna tell me what’s wrong or should I call Pepper so she can “mom” it out of you?” Clint asks, releasing Darcy’s wrist. She doesn’t even bother trying to stab him again just puts the dart down and takes a deep breath. She stares at Clint as she tries to weigh the pros and cons between trying to trick a super spy or just telling him about her teen/young adult insecurities. He has the nerve to cross his arms and give her an even more judgmental stare so Darcy decides this would be an amazing opportunity to prepare him for when his teenage daughter hits puberty and starts slamming doors.

“It’s not a big deal.” She starts and Clint just continues to wait silently. “I just, this morning I realized that by changing everything Bucky and I were going to meet differently. We might not fall in love and that got me thinking that what if we change something and it ends up worse or-”

“Oh, I get it, you’re in love with him.”

For the second time today, Darcy .exe has stopped working.

When Darcy actually gets her brain functioning again her mouth opens in protest but Clint isn’t even focused on her anymore. Instead he casually throws another dart and hits the target dead center once again.

_Showoff._

“That is impossible okay, I have been here for six days I barely know him and future me is married to him. I can’t be in love with him!” Darcy has to fight the urge to stomp her foot.

“I thought I was monogamous and then I fell in love with two women.” Clint shrugs. “Feelings change, things are fluid.”

Darcy blinks in surprise and snorts.

“God you must be raising the most woke farm children ever.”

“I also know when someone is trying to avoid admitting something.”

They are now locked into a stare off of epic proportion and Darcy suddenly feels very bad for the battle of wills Clint’s kids will try to have against him. Because it takes only two minutes for Darcy to give in. With a groan she just falls to the floor and practically curls into a ball.

“I can’t fall in love with him, I don’t have time! Do you know how fucking painful it’s gonna be to deal with all the Winter Soldier stuff?”

She can hear Clint sigh before she feels his hand land on her shoulder. She looks up and meets his gaze and finds that Clint is back in full father mode.

“I get it, I watched Natasha for years, she was always right there. The regret, the fucking pain I felt when I was sitting there realizing that no matter how hard I had tried it wasn’t good enough to save her, it was fucking excruciating.”

Darcy can feel her eyes starting to water.

“Is this supposed to make me feel better? Dude you suck at this.” Darcy tearfully jokes and Clint rolls his eyes and pushes her over only to pull her back up before she can hit the ground.

“Fine. Pep talk part two asshole. Its hard, life is fucking hard and no one knows what they are doing and it hurts. But you, you got a complete guide when you go back, none of it is going to be the same and yeah you are risking it big with Bucky. I can’t change that but I promise you, if you help me get my family back then I will help you with the rest. You do this Darcy and you won’t be alone. Pepper and I are behind you.” Clint shakes her a little to make sure his point is getting through and Darcy reaches to steady herself before nodding.

“Good.” Clint stands up and holds out his hand. “Now enough of the pity party, get off your ass.” Darcy laughs and wipes the stray tears away. She lets Clint hoist her up and steady her and waits while he goes running for one of the cards he hit. He reads it out.

“Wakanda situation.” He says and then looks up at her, she rolls her eyes.

“You are going to have to be more specific, secondary category, is it a Bucky Wakanda situation or a hierarchy Wakanda situation? Or are we could be talking about vibranium.” Darcy says confidently. Clint looks down at the card and grins before looking back up at her.

“It was a trick question and you passed.”

Darcy rolls her eyes. “Yes, okay your point was made I got this.”

Clint nods and throws the card over his shoulder and walks back to her.

“Great now that we got that cleared up let’s see if you can actually hit one of the targets.”

***

If you told Darcy that she would be nervously pacing in a superhero base, waiting for her first date with her husband that she was technically already married to she would have asked what drugs you were on and if they were any fun. She blows out a nervous breath and walks into the bathroom to check her reflection for the hundredth time. Curled hair, red lipstick, silk red top and really great pair of dark jeans. Seriously, she’s looking up the company for these jeans when she goes back because she would murder someone for a pair of these. She almost starts to bite her lip but stops herself, not wanting to ruin the perfect look that she had going right now.

She checks her watch to see what time it is and isn’t really surprised when the second it turns 8:00 pm she can hear a knock on the bedroom door.

“Of course, he’s perfectly punctual.” Darcy mutters to herself. With one last glance in the mirror she heads for the door. She opens it to see Bucky standing there once again. Blue button down, hair coiffed and a bouquet of sunflowers in his hand.

Yep, her heart definitely skipped a beat.

“Hey.” He says.

“Hi, wow sunflowers are my-”

“Favorite.” Bucky finishes and hands Darcy the flowers. Darcy takes them and smiles while she nods.

“Right, of course you would know that duh.” She brings the flowers closer to her and smells them.

“They’re gorgeous but, I can’t really keep them. I mean I’m only here for another few hours.” She finishes while shrugging her shoulder apologetically.

“I mean, I was hoping you would let me give them to future you, wouldn’t hurt t score some extra points with the wife, you know?” He jokingly says. Darcy mockingly sighs in disappointment.

“Talking about another woman on a first date, that’s strike one Barnes.” Darcy says and she happily listens to Bucky’s laughter as she ducks in and grabs the bag that she had grabbed from the closet. She walks out the door and Bucky closes it behind her before they walk down the hallway together.

“So, where are you taking me?” Darcy asks.

“Well, since we really don’t know when your consciousness is going to switch, I commandeered the kitchen. Wilson helped me clean it until it shined, I put some candles around. You know, ambiance.” Bucky waggles his eyebrows and Darcy actually snorts at that.

“Then I got a few steaks to cook us up and after we’re going dancing, still in the kitchen. But Friday has got me covered with mood lighting.”

“Oh dancing, I-”

“Yes, you can dance, I know you learned and you love steak.” Bucky says making Darcy roll her eyes.

“Can you at least play at the mystery of a first date and pretend you don’t know every single thing about me?” Darcy asks sarcastically. Bucky suddenly stops walking and turns so his face is very close to Darcy’s, instantly freezing her up.

“So, are you saying you don’t want steaks or to slow dance with me?” Bucky asks. Darcy feels if she rolls her eyes anymore, they are going to fall out of her head.

“Why do I always pick the sarcastic ones?”

Bucky grins and takes her hand to pull her along.

***

So, turns out Bucky Barnes can cook a perfect steak and candles in an industrial kitchen can be very romantic.

“So how did I do?” Bucky asks as Darcy takes the last bite of her steak. She holds up her hand for him to wait while she takes a sip of her wine. The debate over if it was legal for her to drink or not considering she was simultaneously 20 and 35 at the same time went on for 10 minutes, Darcy won. She swallows and really indulges in a big gulp of wine just to piss Bucky off a little. He does scoff at her but it just makes her smile more.

“It’s amazing, but I’m guessing you already knew my opinion.”

Bucky eyes her and puts on a faux innocent expression.

“I thought you said you wanted me to extend the first date mystery.”

Darcy is glaring at him now. “How much do I roll my eyes around you? Because I’m starting to worry about my health now.” Bucky just keeps up the innocent act and reaches across the table to play with her fingers.

Darcy finds herself getting lost in his blue eyes, she can tell this is a thing that she could get used to, hope that she gets to get used to it. She squeezes Bucky’s hand in her own, holding on a little tighter while she still can.

“I believe you promised me a dance Barnes.” Darcy says trying to go for coy. Bucky smiles, already getting up even while he speaks.

“So now you wanna dance with me.” He pulls her into the middle of the kitchen and wraps her in his arms. Darcy looks up at him and shrugs.

“You fed me steak I guess I could throw you a bone.” Bucky laughs as his arm moves snugly against her waist and pulls her in. She breathes in sharply when their chests meet and she finds herself right under his gaze. He squeezes her hand and she remember to put her other hand on his shoulder.

“Ready?” He whispers. Darcy just nods and Bucky slowly starts to move them in a circular swaying motion. The room dims a little and soft music starts playing out of the ceiling.

Darcy wishes she could freeze this moment in time, in this dim room with Bucky holding her tight and looking at her like she is the most amazing woman in the world. She wants this, all of this with him.

God, she is so in love with this man.

That is the moment that things start getting fuzzy around the edges. She stops dancing and blinks her eyes a few times but it doesn’t clear up. In fact, the room is getting dimmer by the second.

“Darce? You okay?” Bucky asks. Darcy looks up at him but he’s slowly fading, as if the darkness is pulling her away and she realizes that her time is up.

“I think I’m going back.” She says, she definitely sounds sad about it, Bucky looks sad too. But only for a second because he pulls her closer and presses their foreheads together.

“It’s gonna be okay, you’ll see me in a few years.” Bucky says softly while smiling at her and god Darcy knows she has to take this chance.

She wraps her arm around his neck and pulls his down to her and kisses him. His warm lips press over hers and she melts into him. He brings her closer as if he wants to eliminate any space between them which is fine by her.

But she can feel herself moving farther and farther away from him as she is slowly pulled into oblivion. She breaks away from him and tries to open her eyes but she feels so tired and she can barely see him anymore.

“I’m going to fix this, all of this.” She rasps out.

That’s when the darkness fully closes in and Darcy is lost to the world. She isn’t even sure if Bucky even heard her.

***

The next thing Darcy is aware of is the unbearable heat that is not helped at all by the rattling of that ancient ac unit. She whines a little in her half-asleep state and tries to find a cool spot on her cot, but moving around just makes it squeak in protest. Darcy cuddles back up into her pillow and is halfway back to snoozeville when she realizes where she is. In the next second, she’s springing upright and wildly looking around.

She’s back in New Mexico.

She blinks quickly and blindly grabs for her glasses, shoving them on her face and checking her phone on her nightstand to confirm the date. She lets out a sigh when she sees the little screen proclaim that she is indeed back in 2010.

She sits there for a minute feeling lost as the information slowly rushes back into her head and her heart aches. Bucky isn’t her Bucky anymore, right now he’s probably frozen in cryo somewhere and has no idea who she is. She slumps in bed and lets herself soak in her pity party for a few more minutes before she takes a deep breath and throws her blanket off.

Her feet hit the floor and she’s already reaching for her hair tie. She’s got some stuff to write down, some calls to make and some people to convince that time travel is indeed a thing.

But first, she needs coffee, then she’ll fix the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....And that is the end of Wintershock for now, we won't be seeing Bucky again until CA: Winter Soldier and the Wintershock doesn't really start until after that. 
> 
> Good news is that we are back in 2010 and ready to get the ball rolling! Darcy has got a few things to get done before I start writing the first Avengers movie but the beginning of that will start up around the end of chapter 6
> 
> Thank you for all the comments, the positive feedback is amazing motivation and I love that you guys love my story.
> 
> Next chapter will hop around a little as I start to mess with the canon timeline a little bit, I'm so ready to tear it apart and remake it!
> 
> Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed it and are excited for more!


	5. I Guess It's Half Timing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter here for you guys, hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Also again, I just want to say how much I love reading all your comments. They make me smile every time I read them. I also love all the kudos and subscriptions I see, it really keep me motivated to get this story out to you all. I appreciate and adore you all!

_“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” – Anais Nin_

As she was fiddling with the coffee maker it didn’t occur to her right away that it was too quiet in the kitchen. Usually the small space was filled with the noise of Jane and Erik incompetently bumping into each other as they struggled through waking up. None of them were morning people. Darcy pulls her mug off the drying rack and finally sees that Jane and Erik’s designated mugs are still sitting there, waiting for their owners to come fill them up with that first morning cup of coffee.

Darcy blinks in surprise and then looks around to find that the sun was just starting to rise. It was probably somewhere around 5 am, a time that Darcy is not awake for except under extreme duress.

Darcy finds herself mesmerized by the rising sun, metaphors about fresh starts and all that crap pop into her head. She allows herself to have this one quiet moment, she’s in the eye of the storm right now.

Then the coffee machine beeps and the sweet smell of caffeine enters her nostrils and it’s like the best reality check Darcy could ask for. She fills up her mug and adds cream and sugar before taking a semi scalding sip. She takes another deep breath and then moves away from the early morning light-soaked kitchen. She makes her way outside and unlocks the van, leaving the doors open so she doesn’t die of heat stroke. She takes another sip of her coffee and then takes a deep breath.

She knows she’s stalling; Barton would probably call her a chicken or something.

She pulls out her phone and calls the familiar number, swinging her legs back and forth, causing mini dust clouds to form around her feet.

“Darcy?”

Darcy freezes and she has to stop herself from tearing up when she hears her mother’s voice. She feels like she’s five again and just wants to cry to her mom, because moms could fix anything. But she swallows down the lump in her throat, she can’t put anything on Holly right now, she’s about to be put through the emotional ringer.

“Hey mom.” She manages to get out without her voice cracking.

“How are you up this early?” Holly Lewis sounds truly shocked and it makes Darcy laugh.

_If you only knew the half of it._

“Yeah, sorry I just woke up because I have a really busy day today.”

_More like a I have a busy decade._

“Okay, do you need something?” Her mom asks, still sounding wary and honestly, she should be.

“Yeah, but not from you, I was wondering if you guys are still with Momo?”

Her mother doesn’t speak and Darcy swears she can feel her worry through the phone.

“Darcy, are you alright?”

“Yeah, fine. Why?”

“Well, you got up early which you never do and now you seem to have forgotten that we just got to Momo’s house yesterday. Of course we’re still here.”

Darcy feels a face palm coming on, time travel really screw up your internal clocks.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry, I just had a really weird dream, it woke me up early and now everything’s all blah.”

Her mother pauses before answering as if she’s trying to analyze her vocal cadence or something, but eventually Darcy hears her sigh.

“You’re in luck, she just got up. Why you didn’t try the landline I’ll never know.” Her mother replies.

_Because I had to make sure you were there so Momo doesn’t chicken out on me._

Darcy hears murmured voices and a bit of shuffling before her grandmother’s voice, still brassy even after all these years echoes through the phone.

“Darcy how are you up this early hon?”

Darcy lets out a big dramatic sigh.

“Is this what I’m known for in the family? Sleeping?” Her grandmother laughs.

“Well there are worst things to be known for. Now, your mother said you needed something from me?”

Darcy knows her family, she knows how stubborn and evasive and sarcastic they can be. Usually if you want something done you have to get straight to the point.

“I have some questions about my grandfather.” Darcy doesn’t know how else to start a conversation about her grandmothers past exploitations.

“Darcy you and Joshua were the closest out of all the grandkids I would think you knew everything there is to know about him.”

“Not grandpa Joshua, I need to know about the other one. The biological one.” She waits and just as she thought, she’s greeted with silence.

“His name would have been Howard Stark?” Darcy tires but the silence continues. Darcy opens her mouth to add something else but suddenly there is fast murmurings and she can hear her mother’s voice asking something that Darcy can’t make out. Theirs the sound of a door opening and shutting before she hears her grandmother taking a deep breath.

“How did you find that out? How could you possibly know?” Her grandmother sounds scared and that alarms Darcy a little.

“Momo…did Howard Stark…”

“No! no no no Darcy I’m sorry no nothing like that it was all fine I just.” Her grandmother sighs again. “You just shocked me there, it’s been decades since I thought anyone questioned anything about Holly and Joshua.”

Darcy licks her lips; her whole mouth feels dry; there’s a difference between thinking you know something and actually fully having proof of it. Tony Stark is officially her Uncle. 

“How did it happen.” Darcy pauses. “Actually no, I don’t want details, I know how it happened. Why did it happen.” Darcy scrunches her nose in disgust while her grandmother has the audacity to laugh.

“God, I haven’t thought about Howard in years. “Her grandmother made a hmmm sound as she recalls her story. “It was a few months before he met Maria and I was a secretary for one of the companies that Stark was partnered with. I was one of the few that could actually keep up with the men.” Darcy smiles as her grandmother sarcastic tone, it really does run in the family.

“And Howard started flirting with me, like he does with every girl he’s ever set his eyes on. But he was surprised when I flirted back, in those days I liked the attention. Anyway, we flirted for a few days and then after the two companies merged there was a party, champagne and more flirting and then…well like you said you knew what happened next.” Darcy snorts and rolls her eyes; her grandmother goes on. “Then I found out I was pregnant and back then there were no paternity tests so I knew what I would look like if I claimed that Howard Stark was the father and I refused to ruin my reputation more. So, I had your mother and by that time I had already met your grandfather Joshua. Still the best man I’ll know till the day I die; he loved your mother. But he did agree with me that it might be good to at least let Howard know that he had a child out there in the world.” Sadie Brighton-Goldberg pauses and Darcy waits.

“I never knew Howard Stark well, but I knew a playboy when I saw one and the way I saw that man look at Maria was with love. I knew that Howard would push us to the side and I didn’t want that for Holly so I just kept quiet. Two years later Howard had his son Tony and that was that.”

Darcy sits on the edge of the van and tries to take that all in, her mother had a brother for most of her life and never knew. Darcy had been reading sketchy tabloid stories about her Uncle’s exploits for years! A shudder of disgust runs through Darcy at the thought.

“Momo, I’m not questioning your judgement, in fact I think you made the right decision. But Tony Stark isn’t Howard Stark, I think he would want to know he had a family. I think mom would want to know too.” Darcy says slowly. She waits and Sadie sighs again this time in sadness.

“I know, I’ve been thinking about telling you all once Tony Stark said he was Iron Man, I knew that had to be a good man if he was willing to do the things he did in that suit. But…. Darcy, your mother isn’t going to like this, not knowing-”

“I know, god trust me I know but you’re going to have to tell her eventually, wouldn’t it be better that you told her and not some I don’t know DNA test from a lawyer after your death or something.”

“Yes, yes alright that’s a fair point.” Sadie sighs. “Maggie is asleep and Nick isn’t even here so this may be a good of a time as any.”

“Good luck with that.” Darcy says and she means it.

“Wait, how did you find out about this in the first place? Did your grandfather tell you?” Sadie asks. Darcy pauses for a second and then lays the only card she has on the table.

“Remember how you’ve had this lifelong secret that was for the betterment of everyone to stay a secret? Well, I can relate. Big time.” Darcy emphasizes her words.

The judging silence that she swears is hereditary can be heard loud and clear, Darcy can even picture her Momo with her pursed lips and raised brows.

“You will tell it someday thought right? My daughter didn’t raise a hypocrite?” Sadie half-jokingly asks and Darcy lets out a breath of relief.

“Someday we will sit down and tell each other our life stories I promise.” Darcy hears her mother’s voice and guesses that her grandmother had been hanging outside too long.

“Darcy I’ve got to go…. Christ I’ve got to go tell my daughter she has a brother.” Sadie laments and Darcy murmurs her sympathy before finally hanging up the phone.

She takes a moment and picks up her now lukewarm coffee and takes a sip while reality crashed over her. She really did time travel, none of it was a dream and Tony Stark really was her Uncle! All that also meant that she really had a lot of work to do and honestly couldn’t afford to forget anything. She jumps down and slams the door of the van being careful to keep from spilling her coffee. She chugs the rest down as she marches back into the lab and commandeers one of the dry erase boards. She finds a blank notebook and rummages around until she has a nice pile of pens, highlighter and markers. She then faces the board and uncaps a red marker.

_Okay, let’s take it from the top._

***

When Jane and Erik finally wake up and walk into the main room around seven, Darcy is a whirlwind. She has a pen behind the right ear and a highlighter without it’s cap behind the left. The dry erase board is completely covered with shorted phrases and random years that have been connected by a mess of arrows. Things are scribbled out, circled and double underlined. One space of the table was covered with pens and highlighters hap hazardously thrown everywhere. A notebook full of scribbled notes was in the center.

Then there was Darcy herself, who hadn’t even changed out of her pajamas yet, flitting back and forth between the board and the notebook, honestly it did look a little insane.

“Darcy?” Jane says after a moment of her and Erik exchanging confused glances. Darcy looks up and for a second she looks at them confused, like she forgot that there were actual other people around. She then abruptly comes back from the info cloud she had been floating on. She looked at Jane and Erik and then at her future board, then back to Jane and Erik.

“Hi, don’t look at this.” Darcy just cut right to the point and reaches for the board intent on turning it around. But Jane, despite her small stature is surprisingly strong and is able to stop Darcy’s movement.

“Jane!”

“Darcy what are you doing?”

“And what does 2023 have to do with it?” Erik says as he stares at the board, seeming totally engrossed in decoding it.

“Nope!” Darcy exclaims, letting go of the board to jump in front of it. Which effectively blocks nothing but it’s the initiative that matters.

“Just leave it alone I swear its nothing interesting.” That was the biggest damn lie ever but Darcy didn’t factor in that Jane and Erik would still be here.

“What even is this? Is it written in code or something?” Jane sounds annoyed and certainly looks it as she squints at the board. She suddenly gasps and turns to Darcy sharply.

“Is this have anything to do with that organization? Because I swear if they recruited you then that is it! I thought we were done dealing with them. Is them leaving today just for show or what?” Jane throws her arms up in the air in frustration but they are quickly grabbed down by Darcy.

“They’re leaving today?!” Darcy practically shouts. Jane is looking at her very suspiciously so Erik answers, still looking at the board. 

“They’re packing up everything, should be like they were never here in a few hours. Is that a 3 or an E? I can’t tell with your writing” Erik glances over at Darcy but she’s already running down the hall. Jane and Erik look to each other, both are very confused as they hear Darcy murmuring curses under her breath. Jane huffs and starts to follow after her while Erik goes back to the board.

“Darcy!” Jane is heard yelling and suddenly Darcy appears back in the room, hair brushed and clean clothes on. She runs over to her notebook and shoves it in her bag along with half of the pens and the van keys. She looks over to see Erik glancing over at her while he still stands in front of the board. She lets out a frustrated noise and looks around but can’t find the eraser for the board, so she does the only thing she can think to do.

Erik jumps back in surprise and Jane actually yells when the white board goes crashing down to the floor, Darcy didn’t mean to push it down that hard but those things are actually way more unstable then she first thought. Erik and Jane are looking at her in shock but she doesn’t have time for any of this.

“Just don’t try to figure it out okay?” Darcy says and starts to run out the door.

“Darcy your acting insane” Jane calls to her and Darcy looks over her shoulder at them.

“You’re right, I’m acting certifiable, you should fire me.” Then Darcy is out the door and running to the van. She’s in and shoving the keys in the ignition before Jane makes it out the door and Darcy sighs as she gets on the road. She’ll apologize later, if she can convince Clint and Pepper then she’ll double back and tell Jane everything. For now, she has to get to the site before SHIELD ups and disappears on her.

All this turns out to be way harder when the only credibility she has is if she can get away with tasering someone.

***

It’s no surprise to her that things continue to not go smoothly, no one trusts a 20-year-old intern. It would have gone better if Barton had remembered where he had been on base the day after the Thor/Loki grudge match but he couldn’t so Darcy has no choice but to try to walk through the front door. Of course, she’s stopped by a dude in sunglasses that looks like every secret agent Darcy’s ever seen on tv.

“Look I told you, I know Agent Barton, he’s the idiot that still uses a bow and arrows.” The guy just keeps staring at her and it’s unnerving to not see his eyes behind his dark sunglasses. Darcy lets out a sigh and then a deep calming breath.

“Okay, how about Phil Coulson or Nicky Fury? Can I talk to one of them?” She tries but apparently that was not the right thing to say because the guy is taking off his sunglasses and glaring at her. He’s reaching for his ear piece and shifts away from her to angrily murmur into it.

Well shit, she’s going to have to use that stupid code that Barton gave her. She seriously still doesn’t believe it’s a real code but she’s got no other choice.

“Look dude I’m calling a Code T-Hop Plus Fifteen.” She says in a resigned manner, waiting for the dude’s inevitable laughter at her. She’ll just start yelling and running until she gets enough attention that Barton comes out to shoot her, if that’s the only way to get his attention then so be it.

Turns out that won’t be necessary judging by the look of wonder the agent is now giving her. Darcy raises an eyebrow.

“I’m serious Code T-Hop Plus Fifteen.” She tries again and watches as the dude’s eyes just get bigger. Huh, turns out Barton was being serious.

“Is that seriously the code for time tr-” Darcy is cut off as the dude grabs her arm and starts dragging her into the base while he quickly mutters into his ear piece.

“Okay, two things, number one I can walk on my own.” Darcy says indignantly as she pulls out of the agents bruising grip and rubs her wrist.

“Second thing, come up with a better, less stupid code name.” The agent ignores her and Darcy just decides to follow him. The sooner she tells Barton the sooner they can actually get started.

***

They took away her phone and stuck her in a windowless interrogation room, if she dies trying to do this job, she will haunt Barton, Fury and the nameless agent for the rest of their goddamn lives. Darcy took another calming breath and tried to remember that Barton warned her they weren’t going to trust her until she could prove it, so that meant waiting patiently in the scary intense room. She couldn’t really keep track of time in there but it felt like a while before the door opened and Phil Coulson filed in followed by a younger less intense looking Clint Barton. Darcy sits up straighter but Nick Fury doesn’t come in.

“I need Nick Fury here too.” Darcy says and it makes Coulson and Barton freeze and stare at her blankly. Barton, she’s used to his resting face looking like he’s about to kill her but Coulson’s blank face is pleasant and creepy at the same exact time.

“We have him heading here now, he’s interested in you, after all you’re our first case of a code T-Hop.” Coulson says and just sort of smiles at her in that creepy pleasant way.

“Yeah that’s another thing T-Hop? Time hop? What the fuck? When someone told me that code, I thought he was messing with me.” Darcy says only to be met with stone face Barton and Coulson pleasantly nodding at her.

“Yes, we were wondering who told you to enact that code, and how you managed to go fifteen years in the future and back.” Coulson seemed calm and put together, Barton still looked like he was trying to burn a hole in her head. That’s when Darcy realized they were playing good cop bad cop and they didn’t believe her.

“If you don’t believe me how do you think I got your super-secret time travel code?” Darcy asks them. Barton and Coulson turn to each other but don’t speak, it’s probably just some kind of intimidation tactic, unless they’ve learned to communicate through blinking.

“Well many chaotic things were going on during the situation yesterday.” Coulson starts and Darcy scoffs.

“Right there was. I know that because I was there the whole time. How would I have time to run to this base during a Norse god grudge match?”

“There is also the fact that this is the time that Jane Foster decided to bring on an intern-” Coulson keeps going on as if she hadn’t interrupted him.

“If you think Jane is the master planner behind this you guys are the worst spies ever. The woman can’t even feed herself correctly when she’s in the middle of what she claims is a breakthrough.”

Honestly this was getting annoying.

“Then there is the fact that you happen to be the only one that applied for the intern position.” Coulson adds. Darcy gives him a second before she crosses her arms and in the most deadpan tone replies.

“Jane’s study led to a magical Norse god rainbow bridge and you think it’s suspicious I’m the only applicant?” Darcy looks over to see if Barton is reacting to any of this but he still sits there, stone faced and silent.

“Ms. Lewis the fact of the matter is you marched into an off-limits area and started spouting off codes that we frankly thought we would never hear. Now if you have some proof to show Agent Barton, I suggest you bring it forward. Otherwise we will be officially detaining you for questioning.” Coulson finishes and interlocks his fingers together. Darcy raises one eyebrow and stares at Coulson, then turns and stares at Clint.

“It’s his secret, he’s the one that told me…well future him told me-” Coulson cuts her off.

“Then by all means please tell us what Agent Barton told you.” Coulson gestures for her to speak and Darcy gives one last look towards Clint, if he didn’t want her blurting this out in the middle of the room this was his time to interject.

The man didn’t move, if she hadn’t caught him blinking, she would swear he had just died sitting there.

_Alright, you asked for it._

Darcy turns her chair so its at an angle and she’s looking right into Clint’s eyes. She leans her arms on the table to get that much closer to him and block Coulson out of the room for two seconds.

“Laura loves Natasha the way you love Natasha.”

Barton moved so fast Darcy isn’t really sure how he got from sitting down to standing up, his face millimeters from hers. She jumps back in surprise but Barton grabs her arms in a firm hold. It doesn’t hurt but Darcy knows theirs’s no getting out of this grip.

“How do you know about Laura and Natasha?” He asks in a deadly whisper. Darcy just blinks at him for a second because really? She understands he may feel threatened but did he listen to a word she said?

“Did you hear anything else besides their names? Have you been paying attention at all to what’s been going on dude? You love Natasha and Laura loves Natasha. Both of you want to Marvin Gay and get it on with her so Future you told me to tell you to stop wasting time and be fucking happy!” Darcy is fucking frustrated; she just wants her friend back. Clint stares at her, his eyes moving back and forth until he suddenly grips her tighter for a second and she winces. Coulson is up and his hand is on Barton’s in a second trying to get him off her. But Clint seems in a trance as he lets himself be extracted from her while he continues to stare at her, his eyes are impossibly wide. He doesn’t sit back at the table, instead he takes a few steps back and continues to stare at Darcy. She tries to keep his gaze, feeling like she needs to keep him there, to make him believe her.

It must work because he is out of that room so fast that it’s like he teleported. She just hopes that he’s going to call Laura and not hide in a heating vent somewhere or something ridiculous like that. She turns to Coulson who is now really looking at her; looks like she won’t be detained but he almost looks like he wants to call the alien guys to have her probed.

“You’re the Captain American superboy and have all the trading cards in mint condition.” Darcy says and then pauses before going on. “Also, what is this project Tahiti thing? Barton never clarified.”

Just like Barton, Coulson was up and out of there in seconds. Now Darcy was all alone and she still didn’t have her phone. She groans and sits back in her chair trying to get comfortable for an indefinite amount of time.

Darcy had gotten through counting to 998 by the time the door opened again. Although she didn’t start counting until about 10 minutes after the dramatic storm out so she still has no idea how much time has passed. She does perk up though because she was starting to believe that she was going to die of boredom.

Clint Barton comes in holding her bag in his hands and not looking like he wants to murder her onsite. Neither of them say anything as Barton closes the door, he makes his way to the table and passes Darcy her bag. She quickly digs into it finding her keys, wallet and notebook with all her notes in it, yet no phone to be seen, guess they aren’t quite done yet.

“Okay, I believe you.”

Darcy whips her head up to meet Clint’s gaze and he’s not smiling but he’s way more relaxed then he was before.

“I’m guessing you talked with Laura?” Darcy says as she opens and checks her notebook. Cint sighs and she looks at him again to see a familiar exasperated expression. It makes her smile.

“On top of finding out apparently time travel is possible I now have a huge, long and important adult conversation that will hopefully not end with Natasha stabbing me or Laura hiding all our weapons.” Clint says and Darcy realizes he’s totally being serious and Clint is totally whipped by not one but two women. Darcy really wants to meet Natasha and Laura.

“Great. That will be fun for you.” Darcy teases and Clint gives her a withering look.

“Is Nick Fury actually coming? I also need Pepper Potts if that’s possible. I mean I kind of need her even if it isn’t.”

“Nick Fury did get here, Coulson is briefing him now, it’s part of the code to get Nick Fury here if anyone says the code. Was he one of the people you talked to?” Clint still looks a little on guard and Darcy knows she has to take down the last of his walls or their going to get nothing done.

“No, but you said he is the designated boss and the way you described him it’s better if Fury knows everything. Also, I promised you that you could be here when I break the news to Fury that I’m Tony Stark’s long-lost niece.” Darcy waits and basks in Clint’s face journey. It lands on what could be almost described as delight as he let out a huge laugh.

“Holy shit, this just became amazing.” Clint gets out as he calms down his laughter. He shakes his head and smiles at Darcy. He reaches for his ear piece.

“We’re going to need to get Pepper Potts here.” He pauses as he listens and then nods. “Keep me updated on that.” He then seems to settle more comfortably in his chair and the smirk that had become familiar on Future Clint’s face showed up on current Clint’s face.

“So, tell me more.”

* 

“There’s no way I’m getting brainwashed.”

“You kind of have to get brainwashed.”

“Who said?”

“Technically you.”

*

“So, if SHIELD was literally collapsing where the fuck was I?”

“Apparently you went camping that day and had no cell service.”

“You have got to be shitting me.”

“Sort of, Natasha put you on lockdown and wouldn’t let you help.”

“Well, she’s not allowed to do that anymore!”

“Because Laura is the boss of both of you?”

“Damn straight.”

*

“Bruce Banner and Natasha?!”

“Well if you and Laura get your shit together that won’t be a problem!”

*

“So, the little shit knocks me on my ass and I’m not allowed to shoot him?”

“Considering future you emphasized the fact that we don’t want the speedy Maximoff having holes in him, no you are not.”

“Not even his foot?”

“His super power is running! What’s wrong with you?”

***

Nick Fury was apparently one for sneaky dramatic entrances because at one point he wasn’t standing in the corner of the room and the next he was loudly clearing his throat and making Darcy jump so high she almost fell out of her seat. Clint doesn’t react except for the slight twitch of his lips, the little shit continuously throwing her to the wolves. Fury approaches the table slowly and yes; the man is intimidating he’s wearing all black and has a motherfucking eye patch so of course Darcy is intimidated.

He puts his hands down on the table and leans in.

“Code T-Hop Plus Fifteen? Try me.”

Fury waits for her to speak and Darcy looks at him in shock for a second before looking at Clint but he just shrugs at her. She turns back to Fury who still is staring her down so she dives into her notebook. She finds the stuff that Clint gave her about the 90s.

“You have a beeper that your friend gave you, you are also cat-sitting for that friend.” Darcy then checks the notebook again. “Also, you apparently go down to Louisiana every other month for like crab boils with your friend’s pseudo wife and daughter. Why pseudo wife? Was it like a homophobic 90s thing or was it a Carol’s in space all the time thing?” Darcy asks genuinely curious but Fury just seems to intensify his stare. Darcy moves back a little.

“Dude, don’t shoot the messenger that’s just how Future Barton worded the whole thing because that’s how Carol told them.” Darcy defends herself. Fury finally breaks his gaze from Darcy and switches over to Barton who just puts his hands up in not-my-fault gesture. Fury’s gaze swings back to Darcy for another second before he nods his head.

“Okay. We officially have a Code T-Hop Plus Fifteen.” He then turns towards the door. “Ms. Potts can come in now.”

The door opens and Coulson steps in with Pepper Potts coming in behind him, she looks professional, very confused but nonetheless professional and put together. Coulson, being the gentleman he apparently is, guides her to a chair and pulls it out for her. Pepper accept this as she glances at everyone in the room and takes in the situation. Darcy really wants to just hug her but knows she has to wait; she got the familiar Clint Barton back now she has to wait to get to know Pepper Potts again.

“Alright, I came when asked, what is this huge emergency that I had to jump on a plane immediately for?” Pepper asks with authority in her voice. All of them turn to Fury who is already positioning himself in a more comfortable yet still intimidating position to start his explanation.

“We have a specific code for every contingency or event that could possibly happen. One of those is called T-Hop and it either has a plus or minus and a number added on for specificity. That code stands for time travel.” Fury states and Darcy watches as Pepper stares at Fury, her expression changing to one of incredibility. But Fury just goes on gesturing to Darcy.

“This morning, Ms. Lewis here came to this site and enacted that code claiming she has traveled fifteen years into the future and then came back. She asked to see Agent Clint Barton, Agent Phil Coulson, myself and she also asked for you.” Fury finishes. Pepper doesn’t look at Darcy right away, at first, she looks all around the room as if to confirm that everyone is really being serious with this. No one bursts out laughing so Pepper sighs a long-tired sigh that speaks of putting up with Tony Stark levels of bullshit for years. She finally faces Darcy but Darcy hesitates now. She knew that Barton’s secret was personal but it was a faster thing to get use to then Pepper’s secret. Her secret was locked up from everyone including SHIELD for a reason. She wants to at least try to be careful with her information.

“You said that this was the only way to get you to believe all this I’m just really sorry I have to blurt this out in front of everyone.” Darcy says and now Pepper is looking at her with a layer of almost unseen nervousness. Darcy takes a deep breath and shuts her eyes.

“Your aunt had to take you and your brothers in when you were 15 because your parents were fighting so much and so violently that they both had to get therapy and psych evaluations.” She rips off the band aid and tries to get it out as fast as she can. The air in the room feels stifling suddenly and Darcy slowly opens her eyes to see all the men in the room patiently looking away from Pepper who is wound up so tight in this moment she looks like she could literally snap. Darcy tries to keep herself from reaching for Pepper’s hand to comfort her.

“I’m sorry, you said it was the only way to get you on board.” Darcy practically whispers. Pepper takes a shaky breath and nods.

“This is…quite a lot to just wrap my head around. If it’s possible I need a moment.” Pepper asks and everyone nods simultaneously as Coulson gestures towards the door for her. Darcy starts to bite her lip again as she contemplates whether more of her news will break the tension or just make it worse? She sees Pepper’s distraught face and decides to risk it.

“Also.” Darcy says loudly gaining the whole rooms attention. “We’re also going to have to deal with the fact that my mother is Tony Stark’s half-sister.” No one in the room moved for a few seconds.

“I have proof.” Darcy adds more quietly and then she swings over to Nick Fury and Clint was 100% right his look of slight shock morphs into the most displeased grimace she’s ever seen in her life and she has to fight to not laugh at it. Clint has his fist against his mouth to keep his laughter in and Coulson looks like someone killed his dog. Pepper on the other hand just lets out another one of her signature exhausted sighs before turning around and sitting back down in the chair across from Darcy.

“Okay just give it all to me now, I’d rather process this all at once.”

***

“Tony goes into space. With a bomb. And I don’t pick up the phone?!

“It’s fine, I mean he still has to do it but just keep your phone with you and know he comes back.”

*

“I become injected with what?”

“It’s called Extremis, Tony cures you.”

“I still get injected with a foreign substance!”

“You get to kick the guy’s ass!”

“Honestly I could’ve done that before!”

*

How many wayward children does Tony pseudo-adopt?”

“Just think of it as more siblings for Morgan.”

“Who’s Morgan?

“…. whoops forgot about that.”

*

“I am not putting on an Iron Man suit.”

“Okay.”

“I’m not!”

“I said okay!”

“You are definitely related to Tony; you have the same face when you’re humoring me.”

***

Noise started to echo through the hallway outside the door right in the middle of Fury trying to figure out if it was possible to evacuate DC during the Hydra Uprising. Darcy looks up at the noise and suddenly hears a familiar yell that makes her groan and put her head down on the table in frustration.

“What is that?” Clint wonders looking towards the door and as the noise gets louder Darcy groans along with it. She lifts her head and looked so distressed.

“I am so sorry about this I told them not to look at the board.”

Pepper, Fury and Clint all look confused but a few seconds later they get their answer. Coulson opens the door and stands aside as an angry looking Jane and a harried looking Erik push their way through the door.

“Could you have at least taught them the code? I found them outside screaming about time travel.” Coulson is not happy with her, to be honest he looked like he was annoyed with her from the get go.

“We figured it out! How did you figure out time travel?” Jane is so excited as she rushes towards Darcy, grabbing her up and shaking her.

“I told you not to look at the board!” Darcy yells back. Jane gives her a very judging look.

“You knock over a board that has some kind of equation on it and tell us not to try to solve it, what did you think was going to happen?”

Darcy sharply turns to Erik and he just shrugs, scientists are children!

Darcy sighs and looks over at everyone else and they are super unhelpful as they look like their waiting for Darcy to make the choice here. That’s when she realized that she was basically the boss in this, she got Pepper, Fury and Clint for help but this was her plan, her call. Darcy suddenly feels way more adult then she felt five minutes ago. She groans in frustration and shakes off Jane who still has her tight grip on her, she still doesn’t understand how her shrimp of a boss is this strong.

“Okay, Erik is in this anyway since he gets taken along with Clint.” Darcy starts.

“Taken where?” Erik says, slightly alarmed.

“You get brainwashed-”

“WHAT!”

“Trust me I don’t like it either but apparently it’s necessary.” Clint grumbles.

“You are not helping.” Darcy snaps at Clint then turns back to Jane. “Honestly I also need your help with Thor because both of your choices are just the wrong ones. Also, I need you here so when we give temporary amnesia to Clint and Erik, we don’t hit them into a coma.”

That makes everyone pause for a second and Darcy just skips the frustration, knowing she’s just going to have to get use to receiving blank stares for a while.

“I needed Clint’s help but he still needs to go with Loki, so to keep Loki from figuring out everything I told Clint we have to hit him in the head in a certain spot so he gets selective amnesia. Then he gets taken and the mind stone fixes any damage the hit would have caused and then Natasha hits you back and you’re fine.” Darcy finishes explaining.

“That is the stupidest plan I’ve heard all day and I’ve been told time travel was real.” Fury states. Darcy just points to Clint.

“Future him came up with it.”

Clint throws him arms up and gives her a what-the-hell look but Fury nods,

“Definitely stupid but probably going to work. Foster, you’re on concussion research and we’ll help you with your experiments. Selvig we were going to recruit you anyway.”

Jane looks like she’s about to protest for a second but then Darcy grabs Jane.

“Time travel Jane, the time traveler is telling you to do this.” Darcy commands and Jane sighs before nodding. Erik looks like he doesn’t want to deal with any of this.

“I’ll show you both the tesseract now.” Coulson sounds so reluctant but stays focused as he shuffles both Jane and Erik out of the room.

“Alright what’s next?” Fury asks. Darcy sits back down at the table to see Pepper ready to write notes and Fury and Clint’s eyes on her. Now it feels like they’re getting shit done!

***

Fury leaves to make sure Foster and Selvig are well informed which just leaves Darcy with Clint and Pepper. It feels like a very weird case of de ja vu to have the three of them all sitting here in a room with notes scattered everywhere.

“So, you only had six days there? And you picked us? Why?” Clint looks seriously curious and Darcy sighs.

“Honestly for you, I just figured you were one that had lost the most so you would be willing to help. Then you kind of became like an annoying but weirdly supportive brother. You said you help my family and I’ll help you.” Clint nods.

“That still applies you know; I already owe you a lot so you’re stuck with me Lewis.” Clint states. Darcy will not admit to him that she let out a sigh of relief.

She turns and smiles at Pepper.

“You were being a mom to me the moment I got to your house and… you were fine, you were happy but you were sad and I just wanted to help you but I knew I could get a lot more done with you then without you.” Darcy says and does almost cry when Pepper reaches across the table to squeeze her hand, they are totally all having a serious bonding moment.

The door opens again and Coulson appears with Darcy’s phone in his hand. She absolutely jumps up to grab it and kiss it. She has attachment issues; she is very aware of it and she’s not going to do anything about it. The other three start to talk to each other while Darcy turns on her phone only to find she has several voicemails and what seems like a innumerable number of all caps texts. Apparently Momo told the family and the family is still in the process of freaking out.

Her phone rings and her mother’s name show on the screen, she is now convinced her mom is a fucking psychic. She picks it up and can’t even finish saying hello before her mother’s freaked out scream echoes from the phone and into the room.

“DARCY GRACE LEWIS WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? WE’VE ALL BEEN TRYING TO CALL YOU, YOUR GRANDMOTHER SAID YOU KNEW?! HOW DID YOU KNOW? WHAT IS GOING ON?!”

Darcy blinks and then puts her hand over the speaker of the phone and turns to the other people in the room.

“I should take this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So everybody knows now and we can finally start to get the ball rolling on these future plans! Next chapter will introduce you to both the Lewis family and the Barton family. As well as finally start into the first Avengers movie which I am beyond excited to write. 
> 
> Until next time, I hope you enjoyed it and are excited for more!


	6. And The Other Half's Luck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So quick sidenote, I looked back this morning and almost cried as I realized the quote I was using. RIP Ian Holmes and Bilbo Baggins
> 
> For those who are not in the Tolkien fandom, I would just like to say thank you again! I am absolutely blown away by the response. The reviews, wow guys I love the reviews and how excited you are about my writing. Honestly I'm truly touched. Then every time I check I see that my kudos and subscribers have gone up and I smile every time! 
> 
> Thank you all, now lets get down to business because by the end of this chapter we will officially be in the first Avengers movie.

_“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door. You step into the Road and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.” – JRR Tolkien_

Three weeks pass before the Battle of New York happened, three weeks of utter chaos where Darcy was pulled in three different directions before she had to jump head first into the chaos of the Avengers.

The first thing that happens after Team Time Hop - a name Darcy came up with and will not stop saying – forms is Darcy has to go home. It turns out her mother needs all of them to deal with this Tony Stark revelation as a family.

“One crisis at a time, you said we have a few weeks. Go home, Agent Barton will take care of Dr. Foster and Dr. Selvig.” Pepper encourages her as she sees Darcy off at the airport. She hugs the woman tight and boards the plane. She sends a quick text to their brand new and totally awesome group chat. Just to double check that Clint really gave her a number he would answer. He sends her a text telling her to turn her phone off during a flight and she sends him a picture of her flipping him off. Pepper sends a rolling eyes emoji. Darcy smiles and settles into her seat.

Her brother is waiting for her at the Philadelphia airport and for once he’s not there to greet her with a smile, instead he stands with his arms crossed and a serious look on his face.

“Wow, you actually took time off from your senior year of college for this? What a guy!” Darcy tries to tease him and gets no reaction. She waits, all through their silent walk through the airport and the parking garage. She breaks when they climb into his car.

“Okay what is your problem? What did I do?” she asks and being the annoying older brother that he is doesn’t answer her until they clear through the airport and are on the highway.

“You go to some random internship in the middle of New Mexico and barely call. Then news outlets go crazy over something going on right where you’re supposed to be. A few hours later what everyone is saying was a minor earthquake levels the entire town and then Momo picks the morning after all that to tell our mother that her father isn’t actually her biological father.” Nicholas Lewis states and pauses as if waiting for Darcy to explain herself. When she stays quiet, he goes on.

“Those things are related; I know they are and I know you know how they are related.” Nick keeps glancing at her but Darcy only dares to look once and she can tell there is anger in his expression but theirs also fear. Her family is confused and scared and she hates that. But for now, there’s not much Darcy can really do about that.

“I don’t know what to tell you because there’s nothing I can say.”

“So, you do know something.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“No, what you said is that you can’t say anything. If you didn’t know anything you would have called me crazy and asked to share the pot I was obviously smoking.” Nick looks over at her again but Darcy just keeps looking forward this time. She will not drag her family into this if she can help it, especially not Nick, smart Nick who just wants to keep them all safe. Nick would jump at the chance to help her, to take this burden off her and that is exactly why she’s telling him absolutely nothing. He lets out a sigh and focuses back on the road.

“Are you at least safe?” He asks a few moments later and Darcy lets herself smile and nods her head.

“Even if I wasn’t, I have friends so I’ll be fine.” Darcy says and Nick huffs but lets it go and turns on the radio. The punk rock mix cd she had made when she was 12 comes on and Darcy laughs.

When they finally get to Momo’s apartment complex at her elderly community village, Maggie is sitting on the steps waiting for them. She springs up when she sees the car and bolts to the passenger side. Darcy is pulled out of her seat and into a tight hug. Maggie and Nick may look similar, both getting their dad’s darker hair and mom’s brown eyes but Maggie and Darcy were closer. They were Irish twins which Maggie thinks qualifies as being real twins. They shared everything, and as Darcy drew her younger sister into a deeper hug it hurt that she couldn’t tell her any of this. She closes her eyes and tries to concentrate on her sister’s warmth, her willowy arms wrapped tight around her. 

When she opens her eyes again it’s to see her mom and grandmother standing side by side on the stoop looking like night and day. Her grandmother’s silvery blonde hair contrasted by her daughters’ dark brown curls, blue eyes to deep brown ones, honestly looking at her mother now it’s easy to see the similarities between her and the pictures she’s seen of Tony Stark. Besides, Momo and her grandfather had both been blondes, how they got away with the ruse for so long Darcy will never know.

She breaks out of Maggie’s hug as their mother makes her way down the path and wraps her eldest daughter up in her own tight, warm hug.

“You’re okay?” Holly Lewis asks and Darcy feels like death glaring Nick. Knowing him he was probably ranting conspiracy theories galore of what had been really going down in the desert.

“I’m fine.” Darcy breaks away from the hug to look at her mother. “I don’t know what Nick told you but he’s a liar.” Right after she say that she feels something soft hit the back of her head and turns to see Maggie smiling and Nick looking disgruntled, one of his sweatshirts near Darcy on the ground. Darcy just rolls her eyes and lobs the sweatshirt back at him before turning to hug her grandmother.

“The worst part is over.” Her grandmother whispers to her and oh how Darcy wishes that were true. For Darcy the worst part hasn’t even started yet.

***

They manage to get her stuff inside and then sit down to a nice lunch. For a little bit they avoid the subject and just enjoy each other’s company, hearing about Nick’s girlfriend Hannah, and asking how Maggie is basically starting a girl coding movement on campus. Eventually though they quiet down and as soon as they clean their plates the unnatural silence falls between all them and Darcy knows it’s time to get down to real business.

“Alright.” Her mother starts, she looks all of them in the eye briefly before going on. “First of all, I want to be clear to you kids that your grandmother and I had a long talk the first night after she told me and this doesn’t take anything away from Grandpa Joshua. Her reasons were good ones and he was the best and only father I know.” She pauses and looks to her mother before going on.

“From what she’s said of Howard Stark it doesn’t seem like I would really want to get to know him anyway, but Tony Stark is another thing.” Holly pauses again and the three siblings exchange a look. Nick as always takes the initiative.

“Mom, do you want to try to meet him?” He asks and Holly bites her lip before looking back at her mother again and then slowly nods her head.

“I know what he’s shown the world, both the good and the bad. But I think if he’s willing, then I would want to try to get to know him. After losing my dad and your father I think I would rather risk it then do nothing” She reaches out for Maggie and Nick’s hands, Darcy reaches over Maggie and puts her hand on top.

“You’re all grown, your all young adults capable of your own descions and opinions so I made this choice for myself, if you want to meet him that choice is yours.”

Darcy already knows sooner or later she’s going to have to meet with Tony and break the news to him, it will most likely fall to her. She looks over at Maggie and Nick, Maggie seems to be considering it but Nick has already shut down. Which is on par with what Darcy thought, Nick was always the cautious one and Maggie the see-every-side-of-the-situation one.

“We don’t have to rush into anything, I’m not sure how I’m even going to approach this so let’s just think it over.” Everyone seems to slump in their chairs as the conversation ends and that’s when Sadie swoops in.

“Well, while you all think it over, I rarely get all four of you in my house together anymore. I know Nick and Maggie have to rush back to school but can I at least keep you all until tomorrow?” Momo asks, using so much grandma guilt it’s insane.

Of course, all of them agree to stay the night. When they start to clear the table Darcy realizes she doesn’t have to use the cover story that her and Pepper invented. Darcy looks at her grandmother who is already staring back at her, Momo gives her a subtle wink. Darcy smiles, her Momo is officially the best grandmother ever.

***

Darcy decides to kill two birds with one stone, and convinces her mother to go on a walk with her after dinner. Maggie has homework and Nick has to video chat his girlfriend so it’s only Momo who shoos them off with another wink in Darcy’s direction.

“Thank god it’s finally getting warmer.” Holly says as she unzips her jacket and Darcy humms in agreement. She lets them walk in silence for a few minutes before she darts a glance at her mother. She looks calm, as if making the decision was the only battle for her and now Holly Lewis is totally okay with the fact that she now has a famous superhero half-brother. Darcy bets it’s heavy denial. Either way now would be a good time to broach the Bruce topic, considering the world is still in one piece and everything is relatively calm and it won’t stay that way for long.

“Hey mom?” Darcy gets a hum from her mother this time. “Do you remember two years ago when The Hulk made the news and then disappeared?” Darcy asks and she keeps walking for a second until she realizes her mother is no longer next to her. She looks back to see Holly is frozen behind her, her face in semi shock.

“Darcy…is that what happened in the desert?” Her mother seems scared and Darcy rushes back to her shaking her head.

“No no mom relax, there was no Hulk popping up in New Mexico and their will be no Hulk popping up in New Mexico.” Her mom sighs in relief.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you I just remembered when all that stuff happened…you said you knew him, Bruce Banner, you said you wanted to help him.” Darcy waits and her mother closes her eyes and squeezes her hands. A second later they’re walking again, one of Darcy’s hands still in her mother’s grip.

“I did want to help; I did know Bruce I just.” Holly sighs. “I wasn’t thinking it through, about how unrealistic, how unsafe it would have been to actually try to find him and help him. It was ridiculous I just…I saw the news and all I could remember was the boy who made me laugh.” Holly shakes her head and Darcy stays silent, but the fact that both Bruce and Holly remember how they use to laugh together, that one specific thing is kind of telling on its own.

“It’s like even though there was this big green giant, this crazed monster, all I could think or hope was that Bruce was still somewhere in there. I don’t know if that’s foolish or just some school girl fantasy I had-” Darcy squeezes her mother’s hand.

“Mom it just means you care, I bet if you two met again and Bruce Banner heard you see him as more than the Hulk? I bet he would be over the moon happy; I mean he probably never forgot you either.” Darcy hints and nudges her mother’s shoulder making her mother laugh and shove Darcy back.

“Now I know your making fun of me. If you could tweet him you would. My mother has a crush on you please slide into her DM’s.” Holly jokingly says and Darcy can’t help the big burst of laughter that comes out of her, she didn’t even know her mom knew what ‘slide into your DM’s’ meant.

“He’s just a nice memory and blind hope that he’s okay, everybody needs some hope somewhere in their lives.” Holly says as she smiles softly. Darcy knows she can’t keep pushing this if she wants to still appear inconspicuous…but just one more thing couldn’t hurt.

“So, what you’re saying is if you had your chance you would shoot your shot?” Darcy asks jokingly. Her mother snorts and lightly smacks her then hugs her tight as they continue walking. Darcy doesn’t stop smiling because her mother didn’t necessarily say no.

That night Darcy curls into the queen size bed in their motel room with her sister, she tries to fall asleep right away knowing they’ll be something to do tomorrow. Before she can though she hears Maggie shift over, and she feels her sister staring at her.

She opens her eyes and Maggie is right there, looking at her, analyzing her and absent mindedly tugging on her hair, a habit she does when she’s thinking. Darcy reaches out and takes her sister’s hand in hers.

“What?” Darcy whispers. Maggie just furrow’s her brow and Darcy rolls her eyes.

“I know when you’re trying to figure something out Maggie, so what’s bothering you?”

Maggie pauses for another second and then blurts it out.

“What are you hiding?”

Darcy’s heart leaps in her chest and she tries to not let it show on her face.

“What are you talking about?” Darcy plays confused but it’s not well enough to fool Maggie who scoffs at her attempt.

“You forget I know you too, I know when your hiding something.” Maggie implores and Darcy just pushes back.

“I’m not hiding anything.” Darcy states and Maggie scoffs again. Darcy takes a deep breath and hates having to do this but knows she has to.

“Maggie, we don’t lie to each other, not about stuff that matters. I swear I’m not hiding

anything.” Darcy lifts her three fingers in the girl scout pledge as Maggie just looks at her.

“Swear on Dad.” Maggie says.

_Fuck everything._

“I swear on Dad.” Darcy says before she has time to think about it and just hopes that wherever Dad is, he forgives her for this and she hopes if Maggie ever finds out she forgives her.

Maggie looks at her for another second then finally nods. She lets go of Darcy’s hand and turns over to sleep. Darcy moves away and hugs her pillow tight suddenly wanting to be as far away from her family as possible.

***

Salvation comes the next afternoon in the T-Hop group chat when Pepper texts them both that she found the footage of the little kid in the Iron Man mask being saved by Tony at the Stark Expo. She still doesn’t get how Clint and Stark technology encrypted their conversation but the point is they can text about future things openly.

 **This is the kid?** Pepper types and Darcy looks at the grainy picture, that matches exactly with the story Future Pepper had told her about Peter Parker. Darcy sends a thumbs up emoji.

 **This is the spider kid you talked about?** Clint texts

 **Won’t be a spider for a few yrs.** **Just watch him, make sure he doesn’t like get run over by a bus or something.** Darcy texts.

Clint texts back.

**LOL**

Darcy sends him a thumbs down.

**You should come to the home.**

**Laura wants to meet you**

**Nat’s away**

Clint is a really fast typer, Darcy can’t even respond before the next line is out and then Pepper takes over and Darcy just stops trying to keep up. What happens is Pepper also invites Darcy to New York and Clint thinks that’s a great place to pick her up from. The plans are made and Darcy looks at how little she participated and just sends another thumbs up emoji.

She makes some lame excuse that she knows no one believes but once again Momo comes in and convinces everyone that of course Darcy has to go to New York if Jane Foster had a sudden break through and needs to check in with her colleagues. It just goes to show that no one payed attention when she described her internship because except for Erik, Jane has no colleagues.

Still, it gets her on a plane with no questions asked so Darcy will take it! A car is waiting for her at the airport and it’s a nice car, honestly Darcy could get a little use to this. The quickly make their way through the city and as they enter the streets Darcy looks out the window. She admires all the tall skyscrapers stretching out to the sky and tries to picture what it will look like in a few weeks, when whole blocks of buildings are smashed to pieces and Grand Central Station wrecked. It seems impossible right now, but Darcy has already learned that impossible is just a word.

They soon get to Stark Tower and although it’s still under construction even Darcy will admit the building is impressive. The driver pulls into the garage and helps her out with her bags, he walks her to the door of the elevator and then just leaves her there. Darcy blinks in surprise but doesn’t have time to question it because the elevator dings, announcing its arrival and Darcy turns around to see Pepper Potts standing their smiling at her.

Darcy didn’t know how much she missed the woman until she was lunging in the elevator to hug her. Pepper stumbles, not expecting the fierce hug but catches herself and wraps her arms around Darcy.

“How’s your family?” Pepper asks and Darcy lets go of her to grab her bag and duck back into the elevator.

“They’re fine, my mom’s taking the whole half-brother thing pretty well but both my siblings were suspicious. They know me too well so thanks for getting me out of there.”

“It’s been like that with Tony too, he won’t stop trying to figure out why I just left that day. Keeps trying to weasel it out of me and he’s persistent.” Pepper sighs fondly but still annoyed.

“Must run in the family.” Darcy mummers and Peppers actually snorts at that. She then claps her hands together once the elevator dings open, revealing the almost finished living room at the top of the tower, the one that in a few weeks Loki will throw Tony out of, Darcy avoids looking at the window wall overlooking the city.

“So, I was thinking we could get some sushi and then honestly I just wanted to check in and make sure you’re okay. The things you’ve been through I feel like we could both use someone to talk to face to face.” Pepper says sympathetically and Darcy almost starts crying on the spot. She loves her future aunt in law, the woman is a saint. She instead hugs Pepper again and the woman who probably has a sixth sense when it comes to stubborn hot-headed brunettes hugs her back just as tight.

“What am I walking into? Should I just leave or…..” A voice suddenly fills the room and Darcy’s eyes shoot open. She whips out of Pepper’s hug and spins around so fast she might have been in danger of getting whiplash.

Tony Stark is standing right in front of her.

Her long-lost Uncle.

One of the people she came back to save.

He has no idea who she is.

Shit.

She’s still staring at him like a complete idiot, she can tell by the judging look he’s giving her. She knows that look, her mother makes the same exact face, oh god this is so much weirder than she thought it was going to be.

“Sooooo, who’s this random person. In my living room?” Tony asks pointedly looking over Darcy’s shoulder to Pepper. Pepper doesn’t even falter, she just takes a step up to Darcy and puts her hand on her shoulder.

“Interviewing new personal assistants, still looking for a new one since the one you picked turned out to be a spy. “Pepper says, emphasizing that the blame was on Tony. This works instantly as Tony rolls his eyes and seems to forget about Darcy.

“You’re going to remind me about that for the rest of my life, aren’t you?” Tony asks her. Darcy looks back at Pepper to see the woman nodding and smiling.

“Till the day you die Mr. Stark.”

Darcy looks back at Tony and can see the smile come up on his face which, okay I guess this is their version of flirting.

Weird.

Tony nods and gives Darcy one more glance, she ducks her head so he can’t see her face. I mean, the man is still a genius and could probably pick up on familiar facial tributes if he stared at her long enough. Pepper squeezes her shoulder encouragingly.

“Good luck kid, this woman is a force of nature.” Tony Stark says…. sweetly. but it was sweet in a weird way, she may love Pepper and Tony may be her uncle but the way they flirt is just gross. Tony eyes Pepper but eventually gets in the elevator and Darcy swears she doesn’t take a full breath until the elevator doors close.

“Oh my god I’m pretty sure I had a heart attack!” Darcy says a bit dramatically and Pepper just fondly rolls her eyes at her.

***

Girl talk with Pepper is a godsent, they both got to just keep repeating how insane the situation they were in was and not feel like they themselves were going insane. She told Pepper everything she could remember about Morgan, about the house that Tony settled them in. Then Darcy finally got to really talk about Bucky, she hadn’t let herself really think of Bucky since that first morning. Even though it’s a really specific situation and even though Future Pepper had told her what Bucky had done to Tony, Pepper still tried to listen and held Darcy’s hand while she explained. How she managed to fall in love with him in days, how she’s scared to see him, scared to not see him and doesn’t even really know what she wants anymore.

“Feelings are always tricky, and the situation you’re in is impossible. But you have a plan Darcy, it could work. If I just gave up when I thought it would be too hard with Tony, I would have been out of here years ago.” Pepper laments and Darcy grins.

She feels that same need to keep Pepper protected that she felt for Morgan and Peter. The two of them and Clint are in this crazy ride together and whatever happens Darcy knows at least she’ll have them. She watches Pepper as she answers the phone when Tony calls down from the lab, the way the woman smiles and even giggles is so out of character. Like the business woman, the queen of a tech empire lets her guard down for this lab gremlin covered in grease. She’s happy, Tony makes her happy and that just makes Darcy that more dedicated to making sure Pepper gets her happy ending.

Even if her uncle is a bit of a basement gremlin.

***

She only has a few more hours to soak up the luxury in the world of Stark and Potts, while she is trying to fall back asleep in her beautiful Egyptian cotton sheet and plump pillows her phone rings. She decides to ignore it and go back to dreaming of that spicy tuna roll she had last night but her musings are interrupted by her phone ringing again.

Darcy looks over at the clock and sees it’s only six am, she instantly realizes who would be calling her this early. She wrestles out of the sweet soft blankets of this amazing cloud of a bed and reaches out for her phone on the night stand. She doesn’t even check the caller ID before answering the phone.

“You are an abomination of a person.”

“How’d you know it was me?” Clint says happy as can be and Darcy wants to punch him right in the face.

“Only someone who is an unbelievable little shit would call me this early in the morning after the fucking week I’ve had.” Darcy tries to growl but the effect is lost on Clint.

“I bought you coffee and bagels and I can’t stay in this parking garage all day. There’s only so long I can jam the camera until Stark realizes something is wrong.” Clint says. Darcy blinks when she realizes he needs her down there now.

“I’m still in my pjs.” Darcy does whine but it is justified.

“If you hurry, we’ll get there by lunch. It’ll be worth it.” Then he just hangs up on her!

She hates Clint Barton. She hates Clint Barton. She really truly hates Clint Barton.

She calls Pepper while running a brush through her hair.

“Darcy? I thought you said you weren’t a morning person?” Pepper asks when she picks up and if Darcy had a nickel for every time someone asked her that.

“Birdbrain woke up at the crack of dawn and is here to whisk me away to the farm.” Darcy grumbles as she pulls on jeans.

“The cameras-”

“He’s jamming them, may want to clean up the footage before Tony sees. I swear this better get easier after this stupid team forms!” Darcy continues to grumble as she stomps to the bathroom.

“So…the battle is soon?” Pepper asks with hesitance and…fear in her voice. Darcy remembers what Pepper is risking by not telling Tony anything, by knowingly watching as he goes into a death battle that he nearly doesn’t survive.

“Pepper you don’t have to worry I told you he was going to be okay and I swear nothing is going to change that.” Darcy stares in the mirror while she says that, she knows she’s reassuring both of them in this moment.

“Your right, of course your right. God this is all weird.” Pepper took a breath and then when she spoke next business lady Pepper was back.

“Remind Clint to get rid of his phone before you leave and-”

“Make sure they smack him hard enough he forgets, don’t worry after this I’m gonna enjoy watching his get knocked in the head.” Darcy smiles as she hears Pepper laugh, she already misses her.

“Be safe Darcy, we can’t do any of this without you….and don’t give up okay? You still have plenty of time.” Pepper reassures her and Darcy knows she’s talking about Bucky but Darcy has no time for tears right now. She takes deep breath and says her goodbye’s to Pepper. She then proceeds to brush her teeth as fast as she can and shove everything back in her bag.

She spends the elevator ride down to the garage plotting ways to spill Clint’s coffee all over him, it won’t work because of his stupid spy reflexes but sometimes it’s the simple things in life you gotta hope for.

***

She does not manage to spill Clint’s coffee; the little shit continues to see right through her plans. Instead she pouts, eats her bagel and then promptly falls asleep in the car. She wakes up to someone rapping on her window, it is very bright and she is very disoriented. She blinks rapidly as she hears the window rolling down.

“Did you pull her right out of bed and just stick her in the car?” A female voice asks. Darcy rubs her eyes and then turns to look into the sweet, pretty face of the woman who managed to capture the hearts of Strike Team Delta. Laura Barton looks surprisingly normal, she’s a little on the short side but sweet. Honestly in the flannel she’s wearing she looks like any other PTA mom at the community bake sales. She is giving a disappointed smile to Clint who she can hear snickering on the other side of her. Darcy turns and glares at him before turning back to Laura.

“Your husband woke me up at the ungodly hour of six am because he is a heathen.” Darcy states. Laura bursts out into loud joyous laughter that covers up Clint’s scoff. Darcy just gathers up her stuff and opens the car door. She takes a look around at the big Virginia farm. It’s peaceful, everything is lush and green making the whole area feel alive. In some way it reminds Darcy of the way the Potts-Stark lake house made her feel. Just this overwhelming sense of comfort and home surrounds the place. She startled out of her musings by Clint grabbing her bag out of her arms and lugging it to the front porch. Laura steps up beside her and interlocks their arms, guiding Darcy towards the wraparound front porch.

“Clint told me what you’ve been through, well pieces of it. I don’t know the whole story.” Laura rambles and Darcy can kind of tell why Clint and Natasha were both so drawn to this woman. She’s so warm, it’s like she’s the human version of sunshine.

“Anyway.” Laura says, shaking her head to get herself back on point. “He told me the part where you helped us both realize our feelings for Natasha and...” Laura stops once they get to the front steps and turns Darcy around so they were making full eye contact.

“I can never thank you enough for that, the fact that we got to bring Natasha home to us, really truly home is the best thing I could have asked for.” Laura looks like she’s about to tear up but pulls Darcy in her arms to squeeze her fiercely. Honestly the woman is like a little bird, her heart almost seems too big for her body. As suddenly as the hug starts though it ends and Laura grabs her arms and gives her a big smile.

“So how do you feel about Italian food?” Laura asks and, okay abrupt change of topic but not an unwelcome one. Darcy opens her mouth to answer but suddenly her world is tilting and going upside down. She gasps and looks around to see that someone had come up behind her and just threw her over their shoulder.

She knows only one person who would be this annoying.

“She’s Italian so she shows affection through food. She made you your own personal lasagna and I’m insanely jealous about it.” Clint Barton says as he gets a firm grip on Darcy and totes her up the stairs and through the front door.

“Clint Barton I am not a piece of luggage.” Darcy half shrieks half laughs. Clint jostles her a little making her eep.

“Honestly, you got me there. You’re way lighter than your bag was. Laura!” Clint calls and spins around making Darcy eep again. “She’s too skinny, she’s gonna need more lasagna!” Darcy hears Laura’s laughter as well as her halfhearted calls to put the poor girl down. Clint only put her right side up when they entered the house and the sound of small running feet could be heard. Darcy steadies herself as the blood rushes to her head and then looks at the two tiny people staring curiously at her.

“Hey, you guys must be Cooper and Lila.” Darcy says, thankfully remembering the names Clint told her. Cooper blinks twice at her as if he’s trying to figure her out, knowing who his parents are she wouldn’t be surprised. Lila though, gives her a big smile.

“You’re Darcy. Do you like coloring?”

Darcy now nominates Lila as her favorite Barton, that face is too cute to resist.

“I love coloring, do you have coloring stuff?” Darcy asks and Lila literally jumps with excitement and pulls Darcy into the kitchen. The table is covered with crayons and the whole place smells like homemade sauce.

“Yeah I know.” Clint says as he comes up behind her. “Don’t get used to it, I got the call from Coulson last night, they’re gonna need us there in a few days.” Clint settles at the table next to Lila and Darcy joins them while Laura goes to the stove to stir the sauce.

“By the way before we go up there, I’m going to start your training.” Clint says and Darcy feels alarmed as she turns away from her debate with Lila over yellow crayons to stare at him.

“Training? What training?” Darcy really doesn’t like the sound of that.

“I mean, Fury is working on getting you top clearance so we can keep all these plans contained but you’re going to be out there in some pretty tense situations. From your reliance on your taser I’m guessing that you only have a basic level of self-defense.” The more Clint explains the more Darcy does not like this.

“I know enough to incompacitate a guy long enough to run.” Darcy tries to input even though she knows how lacking that sounds.

“Yeah, that won’t cut it. We’ll start today.” Clint says and Darcy groans but before she can fully protest Laura craftily slides a plate full of lasagna in front of her.

Damn her weakness for good Italian food!

***

Darcy leaves the Barton farm a week later with several new bruises and a whole folder full of Lila Barton originals. It’s once again the early morning when they leave but Darcy tries not to groan about the situation this time, she can see how tense Clint is as he wakes her up that morning. Laura of course sends them off with food and she gives Darcy a warm hug and kiss on the cheek. Darcy leaves the porch and doesn’t look back, giving Clint his moment alone with Laura, he knows what’s coming and he’s scared about it.

Darcy is suddenly feeling extremely guilty that they didn’t come up with any other way to get through the Loki situation. She makes her way to the edge of the field and through the trees until she gets to the hidden hanger where the quinjet sits open and ready for them. She takes a deep breath, admitting that she’s scared for what’s about to come next. She climbs on the jet and stores her stuff before climbing into the one of the cockpit seats.

It’s not long before Clint follows her into the quinjet, silently and methodically going through at the pre flight checks. When he finally closes the hatch, Darcy speaks.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t come up with another way to do this. I know your worried but I promise you right now I won’t do anything differently, I’ll make sure everything goes exactly as if was supposed to go and you will get back safely.” Darcy swears, she would swear on her families lives if he wanted her too. Clint turns to her and gives her a small but sad grin.

“Either way I’d be taken, at least this way theirs a guarantee I’m coming back.” Clint pauses for a second and his face suddenly becomes very serious. “Look, until Natasha brings me back, I need you to promise me that you’ll stay away from me. Don’t go near me until I’m fully back to normal because I do have the ability to kill you Darcy.” Clint in that moment seems scared of himself. Darcy reaches over and takes his hand.

“I promise I’ll stay by Jane’s side behind all the other big muscly superheroes.” Darcy tries to joke. Clint just squeezes her hand back and gets ready for takeoff. Darcy sends up a silent prayer to anything that’s listening to give her Clint back in the end, she can’t go through this without him.

***

The super-secret base is in the middle of another desert and Darcy wonders for a moment if there is an unspoken rule that all superhero/ supernatural/ out of this world stuff has to happen in a middle of nowhere desert location.

Coulson is standing there when they land and open the jet, other agents file in to take care of landing and storing and Clint quickly wishes Darcy good luck as he walks into the base. That leaves Darcy and Coulson on their own and the silence is just awkward.

“I’ll show you to your quarters and then I can take you to the main lab area.” Coulson said but Darcy can’t go anywhere until she figures this guy out.

“Hey Agent Coulson, what did I ever do that pissed you off so much?” Darcy asks as she tries to quietly follow Coulson down the hallway. The man looks at her briefly over his shoulder before facing front again.

“It’s more the fact that you yourself have become sort of an unpredictable anomaly that bothers me. You have a plan but like Tony Stark you tend to do whatever feels right.” He stops in front of a door and suddenly turns around to her.

“I don’t dislike you Ms. Lewis, it’s just everything that you bring with you that I’m worried about.”

Which, fair, Darcy can see how that could all be concerning. She just nods and enters the room that Coulson opens the door to. She’s guessing she’ll be sharing with Jane judging by the chaos and mess one half of the room already is, also she sees some flannel shirts she recognizes. She plops her bag on the free bed on the other side of the room and pulls out a dark sweatshirt to put on over her t-shirt. She then turns to Coulson, eager to not be left alone in the concrete walled underground super bunker. He nods and she follows him out, she works on being quiet and inconspicuous, it’s something she’s going to have to practice for a bit. Once Clint and Erik forget about her, she has to be able to walk around the base and not draw attention to herself. Needs to slip into the background until the tesseract goes berserk.

Coulson leads her into a room that is so big it has columns and what looks like a dome ceiling. The big room was bordered by heavily armed agents and Darcy could see Clint already on the cat walk skulking around. In the middle were various lab set ups all surrounding an eerily glowing bright blue cube.

“Darcy!” A familiar voice calls and she looks over to see Jane waving her to a computer bank that her and Erik stood in front of. Darcy looks to Coulson who nods for her to go and Darcy jogs over to where they are. Jane wraps her in a quick hug and Erik gives her a friendly smile before diving back into work. She sticks by Jane as she looks over again at the weird cube.

“So that’s the tesseract?” Darcy asks and Jane nods enthusiastically.

“Yeah, it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before, the energy and readings are off the charts and we still can’t tell where it’s pulling all this power from, it’s almost like the things alive.” Jane is practically gushing, clearly in science heaven.

“That is both awesome and scary.” Darcy says as she moves a little closer to it.

“Oh yeah definitely both.” Jane says but still sounds just a bit too excited at either prospect. Darcy just looks at this thing in amazement, it was one of the infinity stones, one of the things that sent her to the future, Darcy had no problem believing that this thing may totally be alive. She looks up to Clint who at that moment looked over at her and they exchange a glance, it’s clear neither one of them are looking forward to this next part.

*

_The Tesseract has awakened._

_*_

Once Clint and Selvig had their minor concussions, things around the base got lonelier for Darcy. She could only really talk or interact with Jane at this point and never when it would draw attention to them. A lot of the time Darcy hung near the back of the room or just spent time in her quarters. She did wonder about the tesseract though and managed to find time when Clint went to take his break from watching it like a…. well like a hawk.

Darcy usually found herself aimlessly moving around the tesseract around 8pm most nights. Just staring at it, trying to remind herself not to hang around too long but it was hard. The thing was damn near hypnotizing.

It was one of those early nights when the other scientist were basically ignoring her presence and Darcy found herself slowly walking in circles around the cube.

When out of nowhere it sparks.

Darcy pauses mid step and everyone in the room instantly stops what they’re doing.

They all wait, no one even daring to breath until the cube sparks again. This time a chorus of computers start beeping and most of the screens are flashing danger red. It takes Darcy only a minute to realize what’s happening and she runs out of the room. The hallway isn’t in chaos yet but a few people are running towards the tesseract and Darcy ends up running straight into Jane sending both of them sprawling to the floor. Jane looks up at her stricken.

“I just got alerted, is it?” Jane starts to ask and Darcy quickly nods.

“I think this is it, go monitor it with Erik and get the evacuation order out as soon as you can. I’ll go grab what I can of our stuff.” Darcy practically orders Jane. Jane doesn’t even question it, just nods and scrambles up before continuing her run down the halls. Darcy looks after her for a second and wonders when they went from boss/intern to partners? It’s not something she has a lot of time to dwell on but it brings a weird sense of comfort to her. Darcy scrambles up and hurries the rest of the way to her and Jane’s room.

She pulls on her jacket over her navy Henley and shoves her glasses in their case along with contacts, she grabs both their wallets, phones and chargers. She then grabs the notebook and paper files full of notes and stuffs it all into a small backpack. She looks around at their other possessions strewn around the room and feels a pang in her chest at leaving her stuff behind. Darcy just has a feeling she’s going to have to get use to situations like this.

Once she enters the hallway again theirs a lot more noise and people running around. She can hear clatters from all around as people start hurrying, carrying loads of equipment and packing them into big black boxes and madly wheeling them through the hallways, she’s guessing the evacuation order was just called. Darcy walks back to the tesseract, making sure she goes by unnoticed, when she gets back the room is now overcrowded and the air seems thick with panic. She shuffles over to Jane on the far side of the room and hands her a sweatshirt. The tiny woman nodded her thanks slipping it on, and then both of them wait and observe as Erik and the other scientist poke and prod at the tesseract to figure out what’s going on.

What seems like hours pass before a call echoes clearly around the room.

“Talk to me doctor.” Nick Fury marches into the room.

“Director.” Erik Selvig calls and moves towards the Director of SHIELD. Darcy tracks the two men with her eyes as she watches Erik try to explain what’s going.

“The tesseract is misbehaving.” Selvig says and Darcy can hear the annoyance in Fury’s voice.

“Is that supposed to be funny?”

As the two get closer Darcy starts to approach them but Fury must see her out of the corner of his eye because he glares at her to stay back. Darcy takes two steps back and is pulled back the rest of the way by Jane.

When Clint comes sliding down and walks closer to the tesseract with Fury, Darcy wants to scream at him to run, she doesn’t want to lose him, she doesn’t want to do this!

“Doctor it’s spiking again.” Erik runs over and looks horror stricken at what he sees on the screen. Clint looks over once at her and Jane but quickly looks away, he and Fury are standing right next to the tesseract, all Darcy can do is watch in horror as it starts to spark again.

The whole room jumps and shakes, it feels like an earthquake, things go crashing to the floor as the cube shoots out bursts of energy and light. Jane’s grip locks on Darcy’s arm as they both try to shuffle further back. A ringing fills the room and Darcy watches as light from the cube swirls around and gathers until a bright beam of light shoots from the machine and across the room. A ball of electric blue forms on the raised platform and quickly turns into a sort of doorway that looks as if someone came and ripped reality right out of place.

The portal was opening.

You could see glimpses of what was on the other side; the total darkness of space with the faint glimmer of the stars.

It grows and grows, till it almost touches the ceiling.

Then it explodes.

Blue light that look like flames push to every corner of the room as a warm wind blows everyone several feet back. Darcy and Jane both duck their heads and wait.

When she hears nothing, not even the sound of breathing Darcy looks back up. The blue energy was gathered in a foreboding cluster at the top of the ceiling, right below it was what seemed like a burning body, glowing blue like an ember. Darcy had to grind her teeth together to keep from gasping as the flames slowly clear and the twisted smile of Loki becomes visible.

He slowly stands up with a glowing staff in his hand and as everyone starts to approach the god, Darcy takes Jane’s arm and ever so slowly lowers them to the ground.

Jane and her start crawling along the floor until they are well hidden in the back of the room. They don’t let go of each other’s hand.

“Sir, please put down the spear.” Fury finally calls and…. really? Darcy can’t help but roll her eyes, it doesn’t matter how scared she is she still knows that’s not going to accomplish anything.

Unfortunately, she was right.

Loki looks at the spear only for a second and then a bright blast is being shot across the room. Darcy and Jane flinch as it crashes into machines and they spark as they explode. Rapid gunfire shoots through the air only to be accompanied by the sound of bodies hitting the floor, the wet sound of organs being ripped into, the crack as someone’s spine and head breaks against the concrete wall. Blast after blast, Darcy flinches at every single one of them, and when she opens her eyes every time there’s another new body on the ground.

Then it gets quiet, Jane is shaking next to her and has her hand over her mouth to quiet her rapid gasping. Darcy can feel herself going into shock as her eyes slowly scan over all the dead bodies around the room. Two minutes ago, those were living, breathing people.

A groan is heard and Darcy’s gaze moves with Loki’s as the god sees Clint slowly getting off the ground. Loki runs over to the agent and stops him from firing his gun by twisting his arm.

“You have heart.” Loki rasps out.

Darcy knows what’s coming and Jane has to grab her to keep her back. Tears fall down her face as she watches the spear touch Clint’s chest and has to choke down a sob as her friend’s gaze slowly disappears and turns to an icy sick blue.

Clint is gone.

***

Fury watches the whole thing from where Barton had tossed him, luckily that happened to be right where the tesseract was and he knows he needs to work fast. He grabs the cube and safely transports it to its case. He looks up and can feel anger ripping through him as the god takes another agent. He closes the case and starts to go.

“Please don’t. I still need that.” Loki suddenly says. He knew it wasn’t going to work but he had hopped luck would have been on his side, turns out it was not.

“This doesn’t have to get any messier.” Fury says and he sees Loki over his shoulder calmly standing their but also looking fucking crazy and strung out.

“Of course, it does. I’ve come to far for anything else.”

Fury slowly turns and waits.

_He’s gonna monologue, he seems the type._

“I am Loki, of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose.”

_Yep, monologuing. Fucking crazy bastard._

“Loki, brother of Thor.” Dr. Selvig suddenly said excitedly. From the look Loki gave him Fury figures out that’s the wrong thing to say but he uses the distraction.

“We have no quarrel with your people.” Fury states trying to put a placating hand up.

“An ant has no quarrel with a boot.” Loki simply says and Fury is a bit shocked at the simple and brutality of the metaphor.

“Are you planning on stepping on us?”

Loki actually smiles at that and starts to move as he speaks.

“I come with glad tidings of a world made free.”

_Fucking Christ, I’ve heard that before._

“Free from what?”

“Freedom.”

Fury hears the noise behind him and doesn’t even flinch when Loki suddenly turns and takes Selvig. He just needs to keep this bastard here for a little longer.

“You say peace, I kind of think you mean the other thing.”

“Sir, Director Fury is stalling.”

_God dammit Barton!_

Barton meets his gaze dead on with no clarity in them as he finishes explaining.

“He plans to bury us.”

Fury can’t help the slightly impressed and satisfied look on his face.

“Like the pharaohs of old.”

“He’s right the portal is collapsing in on itself, we got maybe two minutes before this goes critical.”

“Well then,”

Barton’s always been too quick for anyone to catch him, that includes Fury himself. The gun is drawn and shot and he’s off his feet before he even really knew what happened.

***

Fury goes down like a bag of bricks and this time neither Darcy or Jane can help the gasp that they both let out. Luckily theirs too much chaos in the room for Loki and his goon squad to hear their quiet sound. They simply step over the body and grab the suitcase on their way out.

Darcy holds herself so tight, like a loaded spring, until they leave the room and clear the hallway. Then she’s up and running towards Fury with Jane fast on her heels.

“First we need to see if it’s a through and through or if the bullets still inside-” Jane starts to explain as they slide to their knees in front of Fury but is interrupted by Fury himself coughing painfully. Jane and Darcy look at each other.

“Bullet proof vest?” Jane asks.

“Bullet proof vest.” Darcy confirms. Fury ignores both of them and shakes off their helping hands as he reaches for his Walkie.

“Hill! Do you copy?” Fury desperately calls as Jane bats away his hands and yanks the bullet out of the vest herself.

“Barton has turned.”

Fury starts to walk but stumbles, Jane and Darcy quickly each get under one of his arms and start to guide him out of the room as Fury continues to yell into his Walkie.

“They have the Tesseract! Shut them down!”

Jane glances back into the room and then increases her speed, pushing all three of them to move faster. Fury shakes them off once again as he regains his footing and all three runs through the collapsing halls. Dodging debris and sparking equipment. Fury pulls Darcy and Jane ahead of him when a set of pipes almost falls on them and pushes them yet again to move faster.

They move up numerous flights of stairs trying desperately to get above ground. The shaking starts up again when their halfway up, Jane shrieks and Darcy catches her when her foot slips on a step. She shoves her forward and the three of them keep climbing. They make it outside to the roof right when Fury’s walkie goes off again.

“We’re clear upstairs, sir. You need to go.” Coulson calls. Fury runs out and stands in front of the door making sure that Jane and Darcy get securely in before climbing in himself.

The helicopter takes off and the ground cracks like ice on a frozen lake. Darcy stares out the window in shock as she watches solid earth ripple like when a drop hits the water.

The ground crumbles, the building explodes in fiery bursts and the earth sucks everything down into its depths. That much power in such a tiny package, it was an awesome and scary thing to see. If Darcy didn’t believe in the power of the stones before, she definitely did now.

The helicopter suddenly and sharply turns around.

“I got eyes on them.” Fury murmurs.

“No, he shoots us down.” Darcy calls to him. Fury looks at her as he loads his gun.

“I still have to try.”

Darcy stares at the jeep speeding down the road before she turns and grabs Jane.

“You gotta get ready to jump, we’re gonna crash.” Jane grips her hand tight and they move to the door just as Fury opens it and starts shooting at the speeding car. Fury only gets a few shots in before Loki aims his spear and fires at the helicopter. It shakes and almost knocks them all out. Darcy grips the door and tightens her grip on Jane’s hand. She can see the fire and sparks out of the corner of her eye and feel the heat emanating from it.

The helicopter begins rapidly approaching the ground and Darcy tries to focus on Fury. She waits until the man jumps to launch herself out of the burning aircraft.

The ground is hard, it knocks the wind right out of her, she’s shaking and she can’t breathe. Her whole body is a mess of exhaustion, fear and adrenaline. She hears the explosion as the helicopter meets it’s end and smells burning metal and plastic in the air.

The propeller rapidly hitting the ground mixes with the sound of gunfire and becomes one big cacophonous noise.

Darcy finally gets a breath in and gasps wildly. Jane is beside her slowly getting up, looking at her worriedly. All Darcy can do is shake her head and keep sucking in lungful’s of air. She reaches out to Jane with a shaky hand and they slowly get themselves standing. Once their finally upright Darcy leans on Jane and looks over at Fury who is busy talking on his walkie.

“This is a Level Seven. As of right now, we are at war.” Fury says solemnly.

“What do we do?” Coulson asks. Fury turns and looks at Darcy. She finds tears running down her face again but she tries to wipe them away as she nods at Fury.

It’s time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, with the first Avengers movie it will mostly be from Darcy's pov and I'll add a few new scenes and important details for the story, but for the most part this movie is going to follow most of the same paths as canon since this is where the Avengers first form. 
> 
> After this I plan to get way more creative with the other movies so hope you guys are ready.
> 
> Another note for you guys, keep your eyes on one of Darcy's siblings because you may be seeing a lot more of one of them later on.....
> 
> Also, feel free to imagine whatever faceclaim you like for Darcy's family but if you would like to know who I picked for them here you go!
> 
> Sadie Brighton-Goldberg = Kathleen Turner  
> Holly Lewis = Rachel Weitz  
> Nicholas 'Nick' Lewis = Chris Wood  
> Magaret 'Maggie' Lewis = Crystal Reed


	7. A Million Excuses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you are going to notice I skip around with scenes, some scenes I just don’t use and some lines in scenes I explain and/or skip over. I don’t want to just do a line by line script of the Avengers movie, so I tried to use scenes that were necessary as well as adding in my own scenes. Let me know what you all think!

_“And so, the adventure begins.” – Unknown_

Fury wants them up and moving in minutes; considering they’re all standing near a flaming helicopter and a Norse god/alien war just broke out Darcy understands his urgency. Doesn’t make it any easier when Jane and her start experiencing shock and Darcy can’t get the image of Clint’s eyes going vacant out of her head.

“He’s going to be fine.” Jane says when she notices Darcy’s expression. Darcy slowly turns to her and Jane tries to give her a smile. “You saw him in the future, he said so himself that he gets out of this.”

“It’s still really sucks when you have to live through it.” Darcy gets out, Jane sighs and moves to walk closer to her as they continue to plod down the road.

A truck eventually rumbles by them and luckily it turns out to be the one holding Coulson and the other agents that managed to get out of the base. They quickly hoist the three of them inside and go speeding down the road once again. She, Jane, Coulson and Fury all sit in the back.

“Right now, I need us to get to an airstrip. You three head to the Helcarrier and Coulson, get in contact with Romanoff as soon as you can.” Coulson nods. Jane and Darcy take the time to get an hour or so of sleep using each other as a makeshift pillow.

Darcy is shaken awake long before she wants to be, but when she opens her eyes and remembers where she is, she wakes up pretty quickly. A few Agent McSunglasses help Jane and her down from the truck and Coulson starts to lead them to a quinjet.

“Where’s Director Fury going?” Jane asks when both of them are settled into seats. Coulson’s eyes practically sparkle and what can only be described as excitement seems to take him over.

“Fury is going to brief Captain Rogers.” Coulson seems so delighted at the concept that Darcy is too busy being weirded out to realize what he’s saying. It isn’t until Coulson has walked away and Jane grabs her arm suddenly that Darcy realizes something is off.

“Captain Rogers!? Is Fury going to recruit Captain America?!” Jane practically squeaks and oh…. right. Darcy kind of forgot about him. Well, it’s not going to be fun keeping all this secret Bucky information from Mr. Freedom and Liberty, so not something she’s looking forward to.

Darcy doesn’t think she would be able to sleep again but before she knows it, she’s being shaken awake even though it’s still dark out. Once again, she and Jane blearily rub their eyes as they are shuffled off the Jet and inside some kind of building. Coulson leads them down a hallway and opens a door. It’s a small room with beds and Darcy can see a bathroom off to the side.

“Shower, try to get some sleep. We’ll be needing you both shortly.” Coulson said and then left them there. Jane came in, wrestled out of her dirt encrusted and singed sweatshirt, kicked off her shoes and collapsed on the bed. Darcy finds herself waking up more and more by the minute. She grabs the black pants and white SHIELD crested t-shirt she finds in the drawers and then heads to the bathroom. She looks at herself in the mirror and almost doesn’t recognize the girl staring back. She’s pale, paler than she usually is, it’s probably still from shock. She looks exhausted, she has scratches all over her face, hands and knees. She has a haunted look in her eye that makes her want to punch the mirror. Instead she puts the clothes down turns on the shower, quickly undresses and steps under the water before it has a chance to get hot. She shivers in the cold water but it seems wake her up from the sleepy fog she had been in ever since the helicopter crashed.

Suddenly everything is hitting her all at once all over again, the dead bodies, Clint shooting Fury, a building collapsing into the earth. She lets out a chocked noise and suddenly she’s curled in a ball, in the shower, sobbing. How could she think she could do any of this? This is insane! She can’t do this again and again and expect to survive! Darcy continues to sob until it feels like she’s cried everything out. Then she just sits there for a second wondering what to do next. The words that Pepper said to her before she left New York float into her head.

‘ _we can’t do any of this without you…and don’t give up, okay?’_

Pepper was right, for all this to work they need all three of them, she had to get through this so she and Clint and Pepper can all go to group therapy together. She needs to get Tony Stark through this so Morgan can one day be born and Peter will be safe, she needs to bring Clint home so he and Laura and Natasha can finally be happy. She needs to meet Bucky, wants to see him smile at her again, wants Jane and Thor to have their happy ending like the fucking fairy tale those two are and hey, if she quits now then she’ll never get Bruce Banner that second date with her mother.

This of all things makes Darcy burst out laughing and if Jane was awake, she would probably think she was having a mental breakdown, I mean she kind of is. Darcy takes a huge breath and manages to get herself off the shower floor. She reaches for the soap and decides to take everything one step at a time. So, she wasn’t emotionally ready for how intense and death defying all this turned out to be, now she knows. Once they get Clint back then she’ll get more training. She nods her head to confirm this to herself, they will get Clint back because she needs him to teach her how to flip a guy over her shoulder. If that can’t motivate you to get shit done then nothing will.

***

She pulls on the tight-fitting black pants and t-shirt, and manages to run a brush through her wet curls. She then walks back into the room and surveys her clothes, the jeans and Henley are torn and covered in dirt, kind of unsalvageable. But her trusty leather jacket is fine and her sneakers, she’s convinced could survive a nuclear apocalypse. She slips her jacket and shoes back on and takes a deep breath before looking over at the still fast asleep Jane. Honestly, Darcy wishes she could go back to sleep but things are racing through her head too much to even attempt closing her eyes. She throws a blanket over Jane then sits down on the other bed and opens her notebook to do a little more memorization. When she gets the chance, she should really switch these all onto her phone or something. For right now she just remembers the order of the Avengers arrival.

First Natasha Romanoff, bringing Bruce Banner and joined by Steve Rogers. Then Tony Stark in Germany, followed by Thor on the way back. After that they get Clint Barton back.

Natasha, Bruce, Steve, Tony, Thor, Clint. Natasha, Bruce, Steve, Tony, Thor, Clint.

They assemble and then we get Clint back, just one step at a time, focus on the goal. 

***

Another no name agent drops off food at some point and says that Fury or Coulson will come get them soon. Darcy feels like she’s being placated but knows that everyone is running all over the world just to locate all these people so she keeps her mouth shut and waits.

She eventually shakes Jane awake to get her in the shower and some food in her, they are in the process of finishing off the sandwiches they were given when theirs a knock on the door and a few seconds later Fury opens it. Darcy jumps up but Fury is shaking his head and putting a hand up for her to slow down.

“We’re still waiting on Romanoff and Coulson to come back with Banner and Rogers. I needed to check in, I’m about to go into a meeting with the security council.” Fury is asking what he can expect.

“They’re really unhelpful, like through the entire battle.” Darcy says and Fury just groans in annoyance then nods.

“I’ll come show you both to the main deck after that.” Fury says and now Jane is jumping in.

“We could find it ourselves.” Jane looks ready to run out of the room and Darcy gets it. Jane doesn’t all the way trust SHIELD yet, if Darcy hadn’t time traveled, she would probably be in the same mindset. Fury is already shaking his head.

“Not necessary, we’re not trying to keep you here against your will, we just can’t have you wandering around. People will ask questions that none of us can answer right now and also you can and will get lost.” Fury finishes. Which, okay that’s’ valid and even Jane seems to think so as she huffs a little and sits down on the bed. Fury nods and closes the door.

“We can trust them Jane, I promise.” Darcy says and Jane looks over at Darcy and then suddenly joins her on her bed. Jane holds Darcy’s hand tight.

“I know I jumped into this against your will, I know we annoyed each other like crazy throughout your internship.” Darcy snickers at the reminder and Jane nods her head. “But I came on this not just because of time travel, you stuck by me when Thor crashed to earth, I’m going to stick by you during all this. I just wanted you to know that.” Jane says and Darcy looks at her for a second and sees the kindness in her boss turned friends face. She wraps Jane is a surprise hug, throwing them both off balance and they almost fall off the bed. They squeal and then end up laughing at each other.

Every time it seems Darcy wants to give up someone else steps in and reminds her why she is refusing to quit.

***

Back in New York, Pepper was having a much different night then Darcy and Jane were. She had been trying to reach out to Darcy but she wasn’t picking up and she was getting nervous. On top of that Tony picks tonight to be the night that they light up Stark Tower, to be fair he still has no idea what’s going on. But trying to get a hold of Darcy while pretending that everything was fine was a weary task, especially with someone like Tony Stark.

“Good to go on this end. The rest is up to you.” Tony’s voice suddenly comes through on the screen and Pepper looks back to see that everything was all set up, she quickly types in the necessary codes.

“You disconnected the transmission lines? Are we off the grid?”

“Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy.”

Pepper can feel herself smiling over Tony’s smugness. “Well, assuming the arc reactor takes over and it actually works.”

“I assume. Light her up.” Tony calls and Pepper holds her breath as she flips the switch and just like Tony said the tower lights up. She laughs a little at the wonder of it working.

“How does it look?”

“Like Christmas, but with more me.”

Pepper snorts at that and checks again but still no texts from Darcy, she now wishes they didn’t make Clint get rid of his phone, she would really like some kind of confirmation from anyone at this point.

“Pep you still there?” Tony wonders and Pepper jumps and nods her head.

“Yeah, just checking over something, we’ve got to go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press.”

_Somewhere that is far from New York_. Pepper knew that was just wishful thinking.

“Pepper, you’re killing me here, the moment remember? Enjoy the moment.” Tony says teasingly and Pepper already feels herself grinning.

“Then get in here and I will.” She says in a sultry tone. She hears the clang outside of Tony landing and slides the screen with Darcy’s contact into one of her own files. She hears Jarvis talking about an Agent Coulson from SHIELD on the line and feels her heart jump a little.

_It’s fine, if it’s happening then it’s happening, let’s just get through this._

It’s a mantra Pepper has been saying to herself for weeks.

“I have a date.” Tony says happily and Pepper finds the smile growing back on her face. She turns back to the building stats.

“Levels are holding steady, I think.” Pepper calls.

“Of course, they are. I was directly involved.”

Pepper sometimes wonders when she started to find Tony’s egotistical confidence funny. But then Tony is in front of her, praising her and staring at her with so much adoration in his eyes she remembers that with his big head comes a big heart.

“Gives yourself 12% of the credit.”

….and theirs the old foot in mouth thing that she loves so much.

“12%?” Pepper deadpans and then holds back a laugh as Tony flounders to cover up his mistake. She hands him a glass of champagne and does let out a chuckle, she can feel her worry fading.

“Sir, the telephone. I’m afraid my protocols are being overridden.” Jarvis chimes and Pepper now knows what’s coming.

“This is urgent.”

“Then leave it urgently.”

Then the elevator doors swing open and Phil Coulson is on the other side of them, Pepper doesn’t think she has ever been happier to see the man. Finally, some answers.

“Security breach.” Tony says looking amazed that anyone would even dare to break into his tower. Pepper rolls her eyes and happily walks over.

“Phil, Come in.”

“Phil? Um his first name is Agent.”

She tries to get his attention but Coulson is a man on a mission as he tries to hand Tony the files.

“I don’t like being handed things.” Tony says pointedly and Pepper is already reaching for it. She gives her champagne to Phil and then takes Tony glass. She very pointedly hands him the file and he sighs before letting out another sarcastic quip.

“This isn’t a consultation.” Phil answers him.

“Is this about the Avengers?” Pepper says and Coulson’s gaze whips to her so fast.

“Which I know nothing about.” Pepper pretends innocence for both men.

“The Avengers Initiative was scrapped I thought. And I didn’t even qualify.”

“I didn’t know about that either.”

“Yeah apparently I’m volatile, self-obsessed, don’t play well with others.”

“That I did know.” Pepper smiles and Coulson gives her another significant look before Tony is calling her over and then Tony is opening the file and Pepper feels her mouth drop open. Everything Darcy had told her about the others, about the battle of New York shows up on the screen. It’s different to be told that dire situations are going to take place and then seeing the puzzle pieces all come together with your own two eyes. She then sees the cube in the middle of the screen and has to hold herself back from reaching out and looking at it closer. She needs to get out of here, mostly because her part in this is over, no matter how much more she wants to help.

“You have homework, you have a lot of homework.”

“Well, what if I didn’t?” Tony says and then looks at her with that playful smile and for once Pepper does what Tony asks and enjoys the moment.

“If you didn’t? You mean when you’ve finished?”

Tony is nodding eagerly and Pepper is whispering in his ear, she can feel Tony’s grip on her waist go tighter for a second and she tries not to laugh. Knowing Tony, he’s playing up his reaction to make Phil feel uncomfortable. She leans back and Tony smiles.

“Square deal. Fly safe.”

Pepper smiles at this foolish, brave, amazing man and leans in to kiss him, reassuring herself that she will see him again.

She then makes her way to Phil and starts babbling about some kind of cellist on the spot and Phil plays along until the elevator closes.

“Jarvis encrypt.” Pepper suddenly says and Jarvis beeps off to let her know he’s turned a blind eye on them. She then turns to Phil.

“Barton was taken a few hours ago, Ms. Lewis and Dr. Foster were taken in by SHIELD and will be with the team for the remainder of the time. We have it handled.” Phil tries to assure her and Pepper feels both relieved and scared. But she knows that she has to get through this, put up her own shields and keep walking. If Darcy Lewis, a 20-year-old college student can time travel and make it her sole mission to change the fate on the entire world then Pepper Potts can pick herself up and keep going. Pepper takes a deep breath and nods her head.

“When you see her just let her know I have my phone, I’m there any time she needs me.” Pepper says and Coulson nods. Theirs an awkward pause for a second and Pepper just can’t help herself as she smiles and says.

“Also, tell her I wish you all good luck with Tony.”

Coulson closes his eyes for a second and takes a relaxing breath of his own.

***

Darcy didn’t even realize that it was daytime until Fury came and brought them both into the main bridge. She looks out the window and Darcy realize for the first time that they are on a ship! Jane and her look around the room in awe, it’s honestly an amazing feat, with its rows of computers with agents all concentrated on their screens. Down to the fact that Fury had his own runway that he got to walk up and down like a cheesy Star Wars villain. Darcy very much approves.

“Sir, they just arrived.” Agent Hill says to Fury and he nods.

“Prepare for takeoff.” He tells her and she goes off.

“Takeoff?” Darcy asks and Fury has to audacity to smirk at her before walking away from her and to the end of his runway. Darcy turns to Jane who has taken a seat at the table but she just shrugs. Then she feels a rumbling and panics for a second, remembering the feeling of the Tesseract awakening but when she looks around no one else is panicking. She turns back to Jane who’s looking out the window in wonder, Darcy looks out and realizes that they are slowly lifting off the ground.

So apparently, it’s a boat and a plane, the cool factor did just go up a little.

The doors open with a whoosh behind her and Darcy turns around to watch a redhead, Bruce Banner and Steve Rogers walk through the door.

Natasha, Bruce and Steve.

The Black Widow, The Hulk and Captain America.

She keeps looking between all three of them as they split off, Natasha going towards the screens, Bruce wandering off into a corner and Steve Rogers staring at the future in open mouthed wonder. Jane is following Bruce Banner with laser like focus so Darcy just stays quiet while they turn a boat into a plane.

Once they are in the air and “vanished” Fury turns away from his screens and faces them.

“Ladies and gentleman.” Fury greets, Steve stops him as he hands Fury ten bucks. Darcy gives them both a weird look but Fury just tucks it away.

“Doctor thank you for coming.” Fury approaches Banner and holds his hand out. Darcy sees the man visibly hesitate for a second before reluctantly shaking Fury’s hand.

“Thanks for asking so nicely.” Bruce then takes a step back. “So, um how long am I staying?”

“Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you’re in the wind.” Fury assures him then gestures to his left where Darcy and Jane are sitting.

“Dr. Foster and her assistant Darcy Lewis; we want you two to collaborate together if possible.”

Jane jumps up and excitedly shakes Bruce’s hand. He looks very surprised by this and stands their frozen for a second.

“Very excited to be working with you Dr. Banner. I mean, the situation is dire but the opportunity...” Jane shrugs and smiles at him. Bruce can only blink for a second before nodding his head and then turning towards Darcy who tries to give him a big friendly smile while not entering his personal space bubble. He’s cautious but does eventually offer his hand out.

“I got your back, Dr. B.” Darcy quips and Bruce actually looks mildly amused by her statement as he nods.

“So where are you with the search?” Bruce asks and Fury points to Coulson.

“We’re sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet.”

“Because that’s not alarming at all that you can do that.” Darcy mutters and turns to see Steve looking at her in confusion. She whips back around quickly and finds Natasha, pulling up screens with Clint’s face.

“If it’s connected to a satellite, it’s eyes and ears are for us.”

“Still fucking creepy.” Darcy mutters again, Jane elbows her and Darcy looks at her to see Jane nodding her head towards Natasha who is now also looking at Darcy curiously.

Turns out she’s not good at the whole laying low thing.

“Agent Romanoff, could you show Dr. Banner and Dr. Foster to their laboratory, please?” Fury says and Darcy looks to see Natasha walking over to guide all three of them out.

“You’re gonna love it, we got all the toys.” Natasha says and Darcy bites her lip to keep her laughter in, Natasha and Clint have the same level of sarcasm to them.

***

Natasha drops them off in the lab space and with one more critical glance in Darcy’s direction leaves to return to the bridge. Bruce gets right to work; Jane and Darcy exchange a significant look before Jane joins Banner. Darcy watches over them, putting in a quip here and there, but mostly watching over Jane’s shoulder as she helps the search and ever so slowly moves it towards Germany.

“Here.” Bruce says and suddenly he is in front of Darcy and moving a screen towards them. Apparently, science mode Bruce Banner is much less socially awkward then normal Bruce Banner.

“See if you can reconfigure these parameters-” Bruce starts to explain as he taps quickly all over the screen, images and lines are flying across the monitor and Darcy is trying her best to follow along but Bruce has stopped talking. Darcy turns to him and he’s just staring at her in wonder. Darcy tilts her head to the side and Bruce looks even more shocked. That’s when Darcy realizes she’s making her concentration face, her confused face, a look that just so happens to completely mirror her mother’s confused face.

_Well fuck._

“Dr. Banner…” Darcy says hesitantly. Bruce seems to try to shake his way out of wherever his mind went. He takes off his glasses and digs his fingers into his eyes.

“Sorry, sorry just…” Bruce puts his glasses back on and looks at Darcy again.

“I’m sorry have we ever met before? Because you seem vaguely familiar.” Bruce asks. Darcy opens her mouth then closes it. She looks over at Jane who has stopped her work to stare at them. Jane shakes her head and shrugs. Darcy sighs and turns back to Bruce.

_Here we go again_

“This is going to sound weird but, I’m pretty sure you knew my mom.” Darcy starts.

“Your mother?” Bruce looks so terribly confused.

“Yeah, Holly Brighton-Goldberg? You went to high school together before she moved?”

Just like he did in the future Bruce’s face took on a look of awe and wonder.

“Holly?” He says breathlessly. Darcy nods and goes on.

“Yeah, she said you were her chemistry tutor and um…I mean you went out once before she moved. Anyway, she told us all about you once the Hulk broke the news.”

Bruce’s face seems to sadden for a second at the reminder of the not so jolly green giant.

“You both watched…” Bruce fades off as Darcy nods while trying to give him a reassuring look.

“But hey dude, don’t worry about it. I’m totally not scared of you or your green buddy, our mom wouldn’t stop ranting about how sketchy the government was acting with the whole thing, she’s gonna be so happy to know you’re alright.” Darcy plays up the enthusiasm and thankfully Bruce responds by actually smiling a little. It’s a bit of a dopey smile, apparently teenage feelings are being reawakened but hey a happy Bruce is better than a twitchy Bruce.

“How is she? Your- Holly?” Bruce seems to stumble on the whole mother word, which is fair considering the last time he saw Holly she was younger than Darcy is now.

“She’s okay, she married my dad and moved to Hershey Pennsylvania. Had my brother, sister and I but we lost my dad about five years back. But she’s still good, I don’t know if she ever talked about it in school but she wanted to open a bakery, managed to open a second one last year.”

Darcy does realize she’s basically wing manning her mother right now. To the Hulk. While a world crisis is going on. But if Darcy has learned anything in the past few hours it’s you gotta use the moments you get.

She looks over to Jane to see how’s she’s doing and by the sly grin on the woman’s face Jane absolutely knows what Darcy is doing. She rolls her eyes and faces Bruce again.

“I’m sorry about your father, your mother, she was…she was great. We got kicked out of the library because I wouldn’t stop making her laugh.” Bruce looks far away as he says this, just like last time he’s once again caught in the memories of Holly Brighton-Goldberg.

_My gosh, it’s gonna be really easy to push these two together._

Bruce looks back at Darcy and remembers where he is and what’s going on. He loudly clears his throat and fiddles with his glasses.

“Sorry um, I was asking you if you could reconfigure these parameters in this sector.” Bruce says as he focuses on the screen and avoids eye contact with Darcy.

“Just explain it a little slower, I swear I’m a fast learner and super helpful.” Darcy says putting a big enthusiastic smile on her face. Bruce looks over and actually smiles back.

Darcy quickly looks over to Jane who gives her a quick wink before returning her focus to her screen.

***

It takes a few hours but suddenly the screens start going haywire.

“67% match.” Jane says. Bruce and Darcy move over to her computer.

“It just went up to 79% when crossmatched, looks like he’s in Stuttgart Germany.” Jane says. Bruce looks closer at the screen at the readings while Darcy goes over notes in her head.

_Tony in Germany and then Thor along the way- oh shit!_

“Jane I’ll be back!” Darcy calls and then she’s running out of the lab and scrambling to remember where the bridge is. She runs down the halls, narrowly avoiding people and definitely hitting her knee against a wall a too few many times. She makes a sharp right that she’s pretty sure is in the correct direction and then runs straight into what feels like a brick wall. But the brick wall has arms that reach out and catch her before she can fall on the floor. Darcy pushes her hair out of her face and looks up to see the apologetic face of America’s golden boy.

That brick wall she ran into was Steve Rogers chest.

Welp.

“Are you alright ma’am?” He asks all apologetic and proper and god Darcy wants to pinch his cheeks or something. Instead she straightens up and pats his arm to let her go which he does.

“I’m fine, my fault for not looking where I was going, do you know where the war room or whatever it was is?” She asks and Steve promptly steps aside, revealing the door leading into the bridge. She smiles and salutes him briefly before running back into the room. Fury is over by his computers and Darcy doesn’t even think about being inconspicuous she just throws herself forward.

“Fury-Crap I mean Director Fury.” Darcy calls and she can tell Fury rolled his eyes at her before he turned around.

“Hi, sorry I need to get on that jet to Germany.” Darcy says and Fury just looks at her for a second.

“Mind telling me why I should let an untrained citizen who has barely passed minor status onto a sanctified mission in the field?” Fury asks, all authority and intimidation in his tone. Darcy ignores all that because for once since Loki sling shotted himself onto planet earth there was something she could physically do, physically fix and god dammit she was gonna do it!

“Yes, but it has to do with T-Hop.” Darcy states knowing that Fury won’t want her to be loud about that. He takes a step closer and gestures for her to walk to the round table. She complies and when they’re both out of significant ear shot of any eavesdropping agents he basically lays into her.

“You mind not telling the whole organization that time travel is real?” Fury said a bit grumpily.

“You were going to say no and I got your undivided attention didn’t I” Darcy explains and then just waits as Fury sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Explain.” He said.

“Okay, so I know everything has to be the same, but there is one tiny thing I could do better. You see you do manage to get Loki from Germany as you know Tony comes along to help. But on the way back Thor pops in and then three of them have a grudge match that levels the forest and basically makes Tony and Steve sworn frenemies.” Darcy explains quickly. Fury makes a hand gesture for her to hurry up.

“Put me on the jet, when Thor sees me he’ll actually stop and think about his actions. He won’t attempt to take Loki and run off, Tony and him won’t get into a fight and Steve and Tony won’t act like dicks to each other because they’re like the past v. the future.” Darcy finishes and Fury stares at her hard for a second before sighing.

“You don’t leave the jet and you do not engage with anyone or attempt to approach Loki at any time.” Fury finally states and Darcy nods eagerly.

“Hill.” Fury calls over and Agent Hill comes over while eyeing Darcy skeptically.

“Ms. Lewis understands the spear and tesseract because of her time studying alongside Dr. Foster, we’re going to send her out with Romanoff and Rogers to see if she can pick up any readings on it while we retrieve Loki.”

Hill looks like she’s waiting for the punch line but one never comes.

“Sir-” she starts but Fury cuts her off.

“I have my reasons Agent, please show Ms. Lewis to the jet.” Fury is practically begging her to trust him. Darcy watches as the woman’s eyes narrow and swing between the two of them before she finally nods and gestures for Darcy to follow her. On their way to the hanger they pass the lab and Darcy looks in to see Jane and Bruce looking at her, both with confused expressions on their faces. Darcy just smiles and shoots Jane a thumbs up. She answers by throwing her arms up and mouthing what the hell?

It’s fine, she’ll explain it to her later.

***

Natasha and Steve won’t talk to her, they just look at her suspiciously the whole way to Germany. She’s guessing that they really didn’t believe her when Hill explained why she was there. Not that Hill tried very hard to sell the lie.

All three of them mostly stay quiet until they get in range and their radio starts to pick up what Loki has stirred up.

“You were made to be ruled.” They hear Loki’s voice come over the flight. Darcy watches Steve’s eyes narrow and she can guess what the Captain is thinking, he’s heard this song and dance before.

“Not to men like you.”

Darcy turns in the seat she was in.

“What was that?”

“Civilian.” Natasha answers.

“There are no men like me.”

“There are always men like you.”

“He’s lifting the staff!” Natasha says with a bit of alarm in her voice. In the next second they’re over the crowd and the hatch of the jet opens. Darcy watches as Steve Rogers jumps out of the quinjet without a parachute.

“Huh, so he really does do that.” Darcy says to herself only to get a weird look from Natasha. Darcy then moves to sit in the cockpit and secure herself in right as Natasha drops down.

“You know, the last time I was in Germany, and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing.” Natasha then swivels to face Loki and arms the guns.

“Loki, drop the weapon and stand down.” She orders, Loki answers by launching a blast at their ship.

“Hang on.” Natasha tells her as she jerks the ship away. Darcy clutches the seat then watches as Captain America fights a Norse god with a vibranium frisbee and his fists.

“Kneel.” Loki growls. Steve pants but throws off the staff.

“Not today.” He says with all the impulsive and stubbornness in him.

Darcy admits the fact that he manages to spin kick Loki’s ass is impressive.

“The guys all over the place.” Natasha mutters as she tries to move to get a clear shot. She glances at Darcy.

“Can you get anything from the staff from this far?” Natasha asks and Darcy bites her lip as the guilt comes in but half-heartedly looks to all the different buttons on the ship, none of them seem to be for any kind of weapon scanning.

“Agent Romanoff. You miss me?”

The voice makes Darcy freeze and then AC/DC Shoot To Thrill comes on.

_Oh my fucking god._

They both watch as Iron Man comes rocketing around a corner and without stopping his momentum fires off beams from his gauntlets, sending Loki flying as he lands solidly on the ground. Tony slowly and menacingly lifts himself onto his feet, pointing his gauntlets at Loki. Then a second later, about a dozen other potentially deadly weapons spring up from his armor and lock onto Loki.

“Make your move Reindeer Games.”

Captain America stands beside Stark and Darcy kind of gets why Fury wanted them together, they make quite a picture of intimidation. It works on Loki as his ridiculous, probably ceremonial outfit melts away. The guns go back in the suit, both Natasha and Darcy let out a breath.

“Mr. Stark.”

“Captain.”

Well, you could cut that tension with a knife, won’t it be fun making these two get along. Darcy thinks to herself as Natasha lowers the jet to the ground.

***

Darcy was ordered – or more like glared at – to stay in the cockpit while Natasha went to apprehend Loki. Steve came in a second later, taking his helmet off he fixes his hair while he nods at Darcy.

“Were you able to pick up anything from the weapon?” Steve asks and all Darcy can do is shake her head.

“I think it’s above whatever tech is on this ship, and everything was kind of wrapped up by Iron Man.” 

Darcy meant that in a hey, isn’t he so helpful kind of way but she’s guessing by Steve’s expression he took that as an he interfered sort of way. Tony comes in with his helmet off and slams Loki down into a seat, then Natasha comes in to double check him before nodding at Steve and Tony. She only gives Darcy a quick look before she’s back in the pilot seat and they are taking off.

The three superheroes stay awkwardly silent and Loki kind of just stares creepily at all of them. Darcy would like to face plant into the jet consul in frustration. Turns out social icebreakers were not built for all situations.

About an hour in Fury’s voice comes over the radio.

“Agent Romanoff, report.” He orders.

“We got Loki; Stark came in at the end.” Natasha says. Even Darcy could tell the pause is just Fury holding back a heavy sigh.

“Is he saying anything?”

“Not a word.”

“Just get him here. We’re low on time.”

Natasha turns off the radio and Darcy hears Steve and Tony talking amongst themselves. She can tell by Steve’s tone that he’s really not happy about Tony’s presence, and she just knows Tony is instigating it.

“Yeah, there’s a lot of things Fury doesn’t tell you. For instance, the fact that he’s apparently recruiting teenagers now.” Tony says and Darcy sits up straighter in her chair before slowly turning her head to see both Tony and Steve now looking at her.

_Why do I feel like instead of avoiding a useless fight I’m starting one?_

Um, I’m actually 20 and-” Darcy unbuckles and starts to stand up but Natasha interrupts her.

“Sit down.” She point blank orders. Darcy looks over at her but Natasha just darts her eyes behind her towards Loki and honestly, Darcy is touched that Natasha cares enough to try to keep her safe but she knows for a fact Loki won’t try anything yet.

“This is Jane Foster’s assistant.” Steve explains. Tony continues to ignore him and takes a step closer to Darcy. She automatically tries to take a step back and duck her head. She did not need Tony to pick up on the family similarity right now.

“Well, someone should tell Foster that her assistant is looking for new opportunities since you were with Pepper like two weeks ago.” Tony announces.

_Shit, forgot about that._

“Stark they probably just looked similar.” Steve tries to help her and god damn him, he’s such a gentleman.

“No, I distinctly remember because when I walked in she was glommed onto my girlfriend.” Tony now has his arms crossed, Steve keeps looking at her and she’s pretty sure Natasha would also be given her a look if she weren’t so concerned about the sudden lightening.

_Lightening…. fuck!_

“Where’s this coming from?” She looks around in wonder. Darcy ignores everyone and shoves past them, past Loki and towards the door.

“Lewis get back here!” Natasha calls.

“Don’t move Chemical Romance!” Tony pointedly yells at Loki.

“What’s a matter? Scared of a little Lightening?”

“I’m not overly fond of what follows.” Loki states and honestly, Darcy agrees because Thor’s timing is so going to overcomplicate things. Darcy stands at the door and waits, then a huge echoing clang hit’s the top of the ship. They shake at the impact and Darcy stumbles a little but rights herself just as Tony walks past her with his helmet on and opens the hatch.

Thor lands in all his long hair, red cap glory.

The next few things happen in quick succession, Tony lifts and charges his gauntlets, Thor thrusts the hammer into his chest, Tony goes flying back, Thor walks towards Loki, and Darcy slides right in front of the trickster god.

“Thor! Dude chill out we’re friends not foes!”

Thor freezes when he sees Darcy, he lowers the hammer and tilts his head in confusion.

“Darcy? What are you doing here?” He asks. Darcy still keeps her hands in front of her to stop Thor from moving and then eyes Steve to close the hatch. He quickly moves behind them and does it. Then a whirring noise is heard and they all turn to see Tony up and once again pointing his gauntlets at Thor.

“Alright Shakespeare in the Park.” Tony starts, Darcy is standing in the middle of them but she knows he’s not going to shoot her but Thor seems to see it as a threat as he starts to charge forward again. Darcy moves with him, now standing in between a god and a guy in a death robot suit.

“Time out!” Darcy calls. The two men glare at each other – at least Darcy figures Tony is glaring from inside his helmet.

“Look, Thor you’re here because Loki is causing some big shit to go down. That’s the same reason we’re here. We’re bringing him back, for SHIELD. Remember Coulson? And Jane? They are both waiting where we are going okay? So, stand the fuck down!” Thor lowers the hammer again.

“Son of Coul and Lady Jane?” Thor asks suspiciously but Darcy nods and after a moment Thor nods back but still doesn’t move from where he is standing. She turns back to Tony who has his helmet off again and is staring at her in almost anger.

“He won’t do anything now; he just had no clue what was going on. We’re all good here now, alright?” she asks. She doesn’t get the response she was hoping for. Instead Tony starts to advance on her only to have Thor stand in front of her and Steve hold Tony back.

“No, not okay because you’re still here for no reason! Does anyone else think it’s suspicious that this 20-year-old somehow knows Thor and Coulson, works for Jane and apparently knows Pepper? How come I’ve never heard of you? Who are you?” Tony was getting riled up and honestly Darcy gets it, he’s protective of the people he cares about and he’s worried she’s doing something to Pepper.

She went off plan for one thing, to save some time and now stuff is falling into chaos. She closes her eyes and prays to the universe that if it gets her out of this one thing, she will never impulsively go off plan again.

“Stark relax, Fury trusts her!” Natasha says probably trying to diffuse the situation. But all Tony does is turn to Natasha.

“Why? What is going on here?”

Well, Darcy sort of figured that she would have to be the one to drop the family bomb on Tony, might as well be now.

“It was for protection!” Darcy finally yells, everyone turns back to her and Darcy pushes in front of Thor so she can look Tony in the eye.

“I was at the Thor incident, SHIELD did a background check and found something on me. Clint Barton was the agent to do the search so once he got taken they came and picked me up because they thought I would be a target.” Darcy is getting scary good at fabricating stories on the spot and she really hates herself for it.

“I don’t think Loki would go after an intern, no offence kid.” Tony replies, calming down slightly. Darcy shakes her head.

“They thought it would be a target for you.” Darcy tells him. Everyone on the jet is looking at her, even Loki has his eyes trained on her, clearly fascinated by the turn of events. Darcy takes a deep breath.

“They found my grandmother Sadie Brighton in old SHIELD records as a secretary and a friend of Howard Stark, then she just disappeared. They found her and put two and two together when they saw when her daughter was born…. I’m your niece technically.” Darcy finishes and she swears you could hear a pin drop it was so quiet on the jet.

“Prove it.” Tony finally manages to get out.

“Fury knows, Coulson knows and Pepper was told and was waiting to tell you in an easier way than this but you instigated it.” Darcy points an accusatory finger at Tony. He just continues to stare at her.

“Can we all just sit the fuck down and get back to the Hellcarrier or whatever it’s called?” Darcy asks. One by one the three guys either sit or take a place by Loki to guard him. Darcy takes a deep breath and slowly makes her way back to the copilot seat.

She feels eyes on her and turns to see Loki looking curiously at her, when she meets his gaze a smile falls on his face. It’s not a comforting one, it’s one that taunting, as if to say that he knows she has more secrets. She shudders and walks quicker until she slumps in the chair next to Natasha.

“You know Clint?” She asks neutrally but it’s almost to causal to be considered casual. Darcy turns to look at her and nods.

“He found out, I told him the rest, he kept Fury and Coulson off my back…. I just want to get him back.” She finally admits. Natasha nods her head.

“Well then we have the same end goal.” She says. Darcy who is exhausted just grins and leans her head back.

“You mean the try to keep Clint Barton from doing stupid shit club?” She can almost see the slight smile on Natasha’s face.

“It’s a hard job.”

Yeah, Natasha doesn’t even know the half of it.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have Darcy breaking down and making mistakes and making maybe dumb choices because I want to grow her as a character, remember she’s still technically an untrained civilian choosing to launch herself into this, she’s going to grow and learn as the story goes along. Also, after all the shit I put Darcy through so far and all the shit I’m going to put her through she deserves a moment to have a good cry.


	8. Talk Myself Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I am blown away by the response to the last chapter! Seriously guys, thank you so much for all the wonderful feedback, I love writing this story for you all. It motivated me to get this chapter to you all a day earlier than I planned!
> 
> So you'll notice in this chapter I switch pov between Jane and Darcy, as I go on in the series I'll be doing that more and more with a variety of characters so I'll start putting the name of the person I switch to when their pov starts.

_“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” – Margaret Thatcher_

_Jane_

Bruce and Jane were both very much focused on their experiments, when what sounded like a small army of people marching down the hallway made them both look up. Jane found herself taking a step back when she looks through the labs’ window to see the smiling face of Loki. She takes a deep breath and grits her teeth; she won’t show this maniac any emotion. He’s twisted and killed enough people; he doesn’t get one more victory. But apparently Jane wasn’t the target, when Loki finally passes the lab, Jane turns to Bruce only to see that the man had taken off his glasses and was rubbing at his eyes. His shoulders were tense.

“Bruce?” She asks softly, taking a step closer to the man but not touching him, she noticed early on that her enthusiasm was not appreciated, it’s understandable. Bruce sighs and uncovers his eyes; he slides his glasses back on his face and looks at Jane. His expression is calm and she can tell he really doesn’t want to talk about it.

“I was going to go find Thor and the others, Agent Coulson said they all came back. Do you want to come with me?” She can already tell that the idea of being in a crowd of superheroes is the last thing Bruce wants. Bruce of course, shakes his head.

“Think I’ll finish up here, then see what the next step is.” Bruce responds and even manages to give her a smile as if to say that it’s okay. Jane nods and manages to keep her steps normal until she gets out of the lab. After that she’s running. She has only ran this fast once before and that was to get to Thor right after he had fallen in the battle of New Mexico, she felt that she would always run as fast as she could towards Thor. That was a scary, amazing thought to have, to love someone so much in such short a time. But for the first time in Jane’s fact driven life she felt herself enjoying the rush of love and euphoria. She reaches the hanger and he’s standing right there.

“Thor!” She says softly but he hears her and turns immediately. He stares at her in amazement and then his huge happy grin breaks onto his face. They both walk towards each other and meet in the middle. She’s lifted off the ground and her hands are tangled in his hair, it’s warm and happy here. That had to be a sign of something important, the whole world was falling apart yet in this moment Jane was happy.

Honestly Jane had already decided she was going to follow Darcy to hell or back if she had to, and if Thor came along for the ride? Well then, just give Jane some space for her research and it looked like a pretty good life to her.

***

_Darcy_

Once the quinjet lands it actually takes a long time to unload Loki securely, this time Darcy knows she won’t get away with standing up from her seat until Loki was clear and gone. She didn’t particularly want to move anyway; she’s convinced she already messed everything up when the only thing she had wanted to do was help. So, when Natasha and everyone else finally leaves the jet Darcy just silently stays in her seat contemplating just being one with the chair for the rest of her life.

That’s when Tony Stark sans Iron Man suit comes into the cockpit and sits in the pilot’s chair. Neither one of them talk or look at each other, they just sit there, choosing to stare ahead or at their lap.

“So, I managed to call Pepper…. she said you were telling the truth…. I mean DNA tests are still a thing but if Pepper says your right then….” Tony fades out after that and Darcy decides to put both of them out of their misery and finally looks over at him. He’s staring at the quinjet controls and looks like he wants to start fidgeting with them.

_God, this man is so ADHD._

“I didn’t want you to find out this way.” Darcy starts and Tony looks at her, really looks at her. “They told me and I checked with my grandmother and I went to Pepper because she would probably be way better at this then I am.” Darcy laments and Tony kind of smiles at that.

“Look, this is….so not the time, I mean the world could potentially be having a hostile takeover so we can just table this conversation until later.” Darcy says and jumps up to get out of the jet.

“What…um…. how…” Tony tries to say but doesn’t finish. Darcy looks over at him to see him staring at her, his eyes once again searching her face and she gets what he’s trying to say.

“Are you asking what my mom is like?” Darcy says and this just feels so weird, so emotional, and so not the time. Tony must realize that because he looks so uncomfortable.

“I don’t know how to do this.” Tony finally states gesturing between them with his hands. It makes Darcy smile at his awkward efforts.

“You want to try, so that’s something.” Darcy says. Tony pauses and actually gulps before nodding at her. Darcy turns to leave and takes a few steps before she finds herself turning back.

“Your expressions are similar.” She says and Tony turns to her. “Like your smile when you’re trying not to, when your uncomfortable and shit, it’s the same as my mom’s…. Her name is Holly.” That does nothing to break the tension in the jet but Darcy still feels like she’s done something good so she nods at her new not estranged Uncle and finally leaves the jet.

Tony stays their smiling his not smile until Coulson comes to get him.

***

Once she gets to the bridge it just feels like Darcy traded one tension filled space for another. All the “Avengers” are gathered around the table. Jane is at one end, switching between looking at Thor and watching the video feed. Darcy realizes it’s Loki on the other side of the camera when she hears him speak.

“A mindless beast, makes play he’s still a man.” He practically hisses and Darcy wants to slap him. She slowly passes Bruce on her way to Jane and sees that Bruce is unaffected, almost like he’s use to being called these things. The urge to slap Loki is just growing.

“How desperate are you? That you call on such lost creatures to defend you?

“How desperate am I?” Fury’s tone becomes angry and Darcy feels herself being drawn to view the security camera footage.

“You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can’t hope to control. You talk about peace, and you kill because it’s fun. You have made me very desperate.” Fury’s well…fury can be felt by everyone in the room. Loki starts taunting Fury again, going on about how they hopelessly seek out real power and then he actually refers to himself as a reminder of real power. Darcy remembers the civilian in Germany. _There are always men like you._ Those words, they are haunting reminder now.

“He really grows on you, doesn’t he?” Bruce asks in a joking tone; Darcy looks over at him to see the man actually has a smile on his face. He’s taking humor as a coping mechanism to the next level. Steve, while literally looking like every action hero from the 50s asks Thor what to expect and his answer, well no one is really jazzed about it.

“An army. From outer space.” Steve says in the kind of deadpan way that hints how done he already is with the future. Darcy bites her lip to keep her smile down.

“So, he’s building another portal. That’s what he needs Erik Selvig for.” Bruce chimes in. Thor looks worried at the name and looks to Jane and Darcy.

“Selvig?” He says questioningly. Darcy and Jane exchange a look and then Jane gets up to be closer to Thor.

“Loki took him, Darcy and I were there but we hid. Its why SHIELD wants us here.” Jane finishes. Thor takes a breath and takes Jane’s hand.

“Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours.” Natasha says, Darcy gulps and looks over to see Natasha avoiding everyone’s gaze. Darcy squeezes her hands into fists as she once again remembers Clint’s face sliding into that blank expression.

“Have care how you speak.” Thor suddenly commands causing Darcy to swivel back into the conversation.

“Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother.”

“He killed 80 people in two days.”

Thor pauses.

“He’s adopted.”

_Oh my fucking god. Point Break, you’re even losing me here!_

Darcy does let her head drop to the table after that comment. She only picks it back up when Tony Stark loudly announces himself.

“It means the portal won’t collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD. No hard feelings, Point Break. You’ve got a mean swing.” Tony says as he pats Thor on the arm. Thor looks confused and Darcy feels herself smiling at the fact that Tony and her humor is one in the same. She keeps watching the man and she has to admit his showmanship is entertaining, he talks at a rapid pace while making his way to Fury’s screen.

“That man is playing galaga. He thought we wouldn’t notice, but we did.” Tony loudly proclaims. Darcy turns and in fact, there is an agent with hunched shoulder trying to hide his face and clicking out of a galaga screen.

Tony then does what Darcy comes to learn that Tony Stark does best, he fidgets and messes with buttons while explaining science.

“When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?” Hill asks, clearly pissed off that Tony is here and messing with stuff.

“Last night. The packet, Selvig’s notes, the extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?” Tony asks. Darcy looks at Jane but the woman is already up and walking towards Tony.

“You read it all in one night?” Jane says a clear challenge and excitement in her voice.

“Yeah, felt like some light reading.” Tony responds and Jane nods.

“How long did it take you?” She asks. Tony gets the game as he smiles big at her.

“Two hours.” He states and Jane actually makes a humming noise and tries to broaden her chest a little.

“Beat me by an hour and a half.” Jane says. Tony keeps grinning as he crosses his arms. They aren’t flirting, this is just two people being competitive over reading fast and it is the nerdiest thing ever. Steve pulls the focus back to the topic at hand.

“Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?”

What follows is Bruce and Tony tag-teeming science talk and Darcy watches as Jane’s eyes light up the longer the two of them go on.

“Finally, someone who speaks English.”

“Is that what just happened?”

Darcy snorts and Jane elbows her.

“It’s good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on antielectron collisions is unparalleled.” That was actually very nicely put. “And I’m a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage-monster.”

Darcy now gets why Pepper has a signature exhausted Tony sigh.

“Dr. Banner is only here to track the Cube. I was hoping you might join him and Dr. Foster.” Fury says gesturing over to them.

“I’d start with that stick of his, it may be magical but it works a lot like a hydra weapon.”

“I don’t know about that, but it is powered by the Cube. And I would like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys.” Fury practically orders.

“Monkeys? I do not understand.” Thor looks to Jane and Darcy for answers but before Darcy can open her mouth a very eager voice chimes in.

“I do! I understood that reference.” Steve says almost proudly.

Darcy gives him a sweet look and Steve suddenly looks down, clearly embarrassed. Darcy decides right then and there when all this is over, she’s going to give Captain America a crash course in the 21st century. She’ll have him tweeting before you can say god bless America. She gives Steve a friendly smile and a wave as she follows Jane and the science boys out. Steve looks confused but he eventually waves back.

“Lewis!” Fury calls and Darcy turns to see Fury gesturing her over to him. She looks back at Jane and waves the woman off before walking back over to Fury who is busy at his screens.

“Let’s you and I make a deal.” He states, then pauses as he taps a few more buttons and then looks up at Darcy. “No more going off plan until we get everyone back.” The words are almost a reprimand and Darcy finds herself biting her tongue to keep from telling Fury to fuck off or something. She feels bad enough, she really doesn’t need him to remind her.

“I made a mistake; it won’t happen again.” Darcy says but Fury is shaking his head.

“That doesn’t matter. Look, you made it pretty clear you are the one who is doing this. Until you have back up again you have to stick to your plans.” Fury says and Darcy remembers what Bruce told her when she was in the future.

Don’t do it alone.

Darcy sighs and nods her head; Fury can see that she understands. He nods and goes back to the screens, Darcy, feeling chastised puts her head down and walks away.

Fury pauses for a second and turns to look at the retreating young woman. That girl is either going to come out being something amazing or die trying, Fury has bets on the first option.

***

Darcy gets turned around on her way to the lab and it turns out secret agents are not efficient at giving directions. When she sees the lab windows, she breaths a sigh of relief and fast walks towards the doors. Only to, for the second time that day run straight into Captain America. He grabs her to keep from falling and Darcy just blinks up at him.

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this?” She almost asks. He huffs out a laugh but then moves along, Darcy watches him march down the hallway, he seemed annoyed. She looks towards the lab and knows only one person that could have gotten on his nerves so much. She groans but enters the lab.

Tony and Bruce are locked in their own private conversation that looks pretty serious so Darcy goes to the other side of the lab where Jane has her attention on a monitor.

“Hey, what did I miss?” Darcy asks and Jane looks over at her before eyeing the two men across the room.

“A very awkward, very serious and very man posturing conversation.” Jane says and Darcy groans again.

“You may not enjoy that.” Bruce calls to Tony as the man walks away from him.

“And you just might.” Tony says as he walks over to his screen. He looks up towards Jane and freezes for a second when he makes eye contact with Darcy.

“Darcy. You’re here.” Tony states, sounding confused. Darcy and Jane share a confused look themselves before turning back to Tony.

“Yeah, I’m still Jane’s assistant. Here to help.” Darcy directed the last part to Jane and the woman was already reaching for something but Tony was walking over.

“Yeah, actually I just had a thought, wanted to run it by you.” Tony says as he held his hand out. Darcy looks at his hand and then back up at Tony before she realizes he wants her hand. She slowly gives it to him only for him to prick it.

“Ow! Dude!” Darcy shouts as she pulls her hand back and cradles it. Tony ignores her for a second as he walks back to his monitor and dips the stick with her blood into something. He presses a few buttons then nods before turning back to her. She gives him an incredulous look.

“DNA test, you know, I trust Pepper but it’s second nature to double check.”

“Your paranoid.” Darcy says rolling her eyes. Tony just shrugs and the computer beeps, Tony glances at it and pauses for a second before nodding.

“Yep, okay cool.” He then looks up and doesn’t finish his sentence so Darcy is just guessing the results were positive.

“So, my question is, you said you were….20?” Tony asks. Darcy just nods her head and Tony goes on.

“Yeah…Yeah, um and since we were just talking about SHIELD being shady and hiding stuff, I mean that’s not that surprising...” Tony looks around to Bruce and Jane who both try to avoid his gaze.

“Tony.” Darcy says gaining the man’s attention. “Can you please spit it out?” Tony blinks in surprise and his mouth twitches a bit.

“Does your family know you’re on a secret ship on what basically amounts to a death mission?” Tony asks and Jane snorts. This time it’s Darcy’s turn to elbow her.

“You’re asking if my mother knows.” Darcy cut to the chase and made Tony shrug.

“I told you I’m bad at this.”

“You said you don’t know how to do this but something tells me to hold onto you admitting your bad at something.” Darcy smirks and Tony rolls his eyes.

“One afternoon with Pepper and she’s already turning you against me.” Tony mutters. Darcy laughs and Jane is hiding her smile behind her work, they even got Bruce looking over, clearly curious.

“My mom doesn’t know and I’d like to keep it that way for now.” Darcy says to Tony. Tony crosses his arms and smirks, Darcy sighs, she already can tell what’s coming.

“Damn, already trying to get me to lie for you, I mean I’m pretty sure I’ve got to meet a sister before I lie to her.”

CLANG

Darcy jumps a little and all three of them turn to see a shocked Bruce standing there, a piece of lab equipment had been knocked off the table. But Bruce was focused on Tony.

“Holly Gold-” Bruce stumbles over the wrong last name. “Holly _Lewis_ is your sister!?” Bruce asks truly looking shocked. That’s when Darcy remembers that Bruce wasn’t on the jet with them, which means Bruce is just have all these revelations about Holly today.

“Yeah, just found out a few hours ago, congrats to me it’s a girl.” Tony jokes.

“That’s for parents.” Jane says chuckling, Tony just turns to her and shrugs.

“I still could be a proud, cool Uncle.” Tony says

“How?” Bruce seems to still be in shock. Tony twists around again.

“Half-sister, older, holy shit I’m the little brother.” Tony makes a face. “Ugh, hate that.” He pauses again. “Younger brother…. better.” he then turns back to Bruce.

“Bruce…why do you look like your about to go green on us?” Tony seems as confused as Bruce right now and Darcy finds this whole conversation fucking hilarious.

Bruce shakes himself and smooths down his hair before reaching for the tool on the floor.

“Sorry, nothing to do with you.” Bruce assures him. Darcy looks at Jane and the woman is hiding her grin too. Tony looks between the three of them.

“What is going on here?” Tony asks, hands out in confusion. Darcy looks at Bruce but the man refuses to look back up.

“Bruce and my mom knew each other in high school.” Darcy announces. Tony looks back at her and one eyebrow raises.

“Wow, small world. Really small. That’s actually weirdly convenient.” Tony seems to get lost in thought.

“He also took her on a date.” Darcy says and smiles when Bruce looks up at her with a portrayed look. Tony blinks and then faces Bruce, just staring at the man.

“I have no clue how to feel about this. Shouldn’t I be giving you a shovel talk?” Tony seems to be really checking if he has to do this and Darcy is too busy suppressing her laughter to answer.

“You’re definitely trying to hard right now.” Jane says and Tony just shrugs, finally going back to his station.

“It’s a new hat, I’m taking it out for a spin.”

“Take off the hat.” Darcy finally manages to get out. “My mom will smack you and call you little brother.”

Tony points to her. “Younger.”

Darcy just shakes her head.

“Trust me, she will say little just to tease you.” This makes Tony pause

“Huh.” Then of all things he smiles. “This might be fun.”

He then turns back to Bruce making the man look at him warily.

“Watching you with both eyes Bruce.” He then turns his head and thinks for a second.

“Although I like you.” Tony calls to Darcy. “Darcy, what’s the status on your mom’s romantic life?” Darcy and Jane burst out laughing and Bruce raises his voice over their laughter.

“No! we are not discussing this!” Bruce is very against all of this. Tony just keeps smiling.

***

Darcy spends the next few hours running algorithms, writing down formulas and making sure everyone constantly has coffee so they don’t fall down where they stand. It reminds her of her first few days with Jane, before Thor and time travel, when life was simpler. It’s almost weird that she doesn’t feel herself wanting those days back. But as Tony makes Bruce smile and Jane snort, Darcy gets why people stick around, why Pepper sticks around. The good outweighs the bad.

She tries to keep the little details of what goes on before the battle in her head, reviewing them constantly but time seems to fly by her. She sees Thor take Jane with him to the bridge and then a solemn Jane comes in sans Thor just saying that Thor was struggling with guilt.

She tries to keep a screen open to watch Loki in the cell but gets distracted by doing a food run in the early morning. She’s sleep deprived and going from an adrenaline rush to a caffeine high so of course she gets distracted and doesn’t realize what day it is until she checks back in with the footage and sees Loki slamming his hand against the prison wall while Natasha Romanoff pretends to cower.

She crinkles her brow for a second trying to remember what’s going on, then the word confrontation flashes through her head.

_Natasha gets Loki to slip and when everything seems to be going right it goes wrong._

Natasha exits the room in the footage and Darcy spins around to regroup and warn Jane but Fury is already marching through the door.

“What are you doing Mr. Stark?” Fury questions, looking at a relaxed Tony sitting on the counter.

“Uh, kind of been wondering the same thing about you.” Tony says accusingly. Jane looks over at Darcy but Darcy shakes her head, she has no clue what Tony’s talking about. That worries her more than anything.

“You’re supposed to be locating the Tesseract.” Fury accuses. Bruce explains how they are scanning for it now and Tony quips at him while still standing there as if waiting for Fury to admit to something.

“What is Phase 2?” Tony asks almost playfully. Jane once again looks at Darcy and Darcy once again has to shake her head, no one had mentioned Phase 2.

Steve Rogers is marching through the lab doors and dropping a weapon down on a table. It makes a loud clattering sound and Darcy finds her eyes weirdly drawn to it.

“Phase 2 is SHIELD using the Cube to make weapons.” Steve announces. Darcy’s gaze snaps to Fury but he’s too busy assuring Steve that it’s just Tesseract evidence. Darcy desperately wants to believe that’s true but then Tony calls the room’s attention.

“I’m sorry Nick, what were you lying?” Tony then turns his screen around showing detailed blueprints of weapons, tesseract weapons.

Darcy feels unbridled anger start to rise in her chest. Jane moves towards the blueprint her mouth open in shock but Darcy marches next to Fury with a scowl on her face.

“What the fuck?” She demands.

“I was wrong Director; the world hasn’t changed a bit.” Steve states

“Did you know about this?” Bruce asks and Darcy looks over to see Thor and Natasha enter the room.

“You want to think about removing yourself from this environment Doctor?”

Bruce actually laughs and Darcy feels the tension kick up a notch.

“I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed.”

“Loki is manipulating you.”

“And you’ve been doing what, exactly?”

Darcy sighs and doesn’t take her eyes off Fury as Bruce ignores Natasha and demands why they are weaponizing the tesseract. Fury has the gall to look at Darcy, all she does is glare back.

“Because of him.” Fury says pointing towards Thor, Thor just looks confused.

“Me?”

“What are you talking about?” Jane demands.

“Three weeks ago, earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. Not only did we learn that we are not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously outgunned.” Fury turns where Darcy and Steve stand but neither back down. Darcy crosses her arms and feels her glare intensify.

“I’m not an expert but three weeks seems like a pretty short timeline to make an excess of blueprints this detailed. Am I right Jane?” Darcy asks.

“Seems like these have just been waiting for a final piece.” Jane answers back with her own glare. Darcy is so mad that she doesn’t even notice how the emotion in the room are heightening.

“My people want nothing but peace with your planet.” Thor states.

“But you’re not the only people out there are you?” Fury seems to almost challenge him.

“And you’re not the only threat, the world’s filling up with people who can’t be matched. That can’t be controlled.”

Darcy feels herself regretting telling Fury everything, the word control is what had Bucky being brainwashed, control is what the accords wanted. Both these events created misery and chaos.

“Like you controlled the Cube?”

“Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it and his allies.” Thor says accusingly, he starts walking forward with his hands in fists and Jane is walking across the room to hold him back.

“It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war.” Thor takes another step, Darcy is now convinced Jane isn’t really trying, she wouldn’t mind Fury getting sucker punched right now.

“You forced our hand. We had to come up with something-”

“A nuclear deterrent.” Tony interrupts Fury sounding resigned. “Because that always calms everything right down.”

“Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark.”

Fury is that much closer to getting socked in the jaw.

Then Steve comes in and accuses Tony, Tony fires back, Thor steps up again moving him and Jane another step closer.

“Are you boys really that naïve? SHIELD monitors potential threats.” Natasha quips out.

“Captain America’s on threat watch?” Bruce asks incredulously.

“Probably making sure they don’t have any competition.” Jane spits out.

Then it descends into chaos with their voices all trying to go above the other and Darcy is in the middle of it. She’s practically on her tip toes and jabbing her finger in Fury’s chest.

“You speak of control yet you court chaos.” Thor says finally grabbing Jane and moving her next to him, she still looks pissed off.

“That’s his M.O isn’t it?” Bruce questions and everyone turns to the man who looks so angry and is wound so tight even Darcy takes a step back.

“I mean, what are we, a team? No no no, we’re a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We’re a time bomb.” Bruce grins sardonically.

“You need to step away.” Fury says taking a pointed step in front of Darcy.

“Why shouldn’t the guy let off a little steam?”

“You know damn well why. Back off!”

Darcy groans and turns to get between Tony and Steve but Fury is right there, pushing her back.

“Will you two just stop it!” Darcy yells, but it’s like no one can hear her too caught up in everything. She just watches as Steve calls Tony out on his bullshit, reduces him to nothing. Darcy watches as Tony’s face becomes stone and he reduces Steve to a science experiment. That’s when Darcy starts breaking through the haze, because this, this is so much more then a fight. She blinks in confusion and tries to remember why she’s so angry.

“You people are so petty…and tiny.” Darcy turns to look at Thor and she sees Jane and Thor exchanging baffled looks of their own.

“Yeah, this is a team.” Bruce mutters. Fury tries to get Bruce to leave with Natasha but Bruce is accusing Fury of trying to put him in a cage.

“The cell was just-”

“In case you needed to kill me. But you can’t. I know, I tried.”

Everything instantly stops.

Darcy looks at Bruce, really looks at him and feels like she’s seeing him for the first time. The anguish, the pain, she can’t stop the tears that are coming into her eyes.

“I got low. I didn’t see an end. So, I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out.” Bruce grits out. Darcy wants to go over, to do what, she doesn’t know but her body won’t move.

“So, I moved on, I focused on helping other people. I was good. Until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone at risk.” Darcy’s eyes slowly widen as she watches Bruce reach over and grab the spear. It’s almost as if he’s not aware that he’s holding it.

“You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm?”

Fury reaches for his gun, Darcy keeps her eyes on Bruce, the man looks crazed, strung out, the sight is familiar.

“Dr. Banner, put down the scepter.”

Bruce looks down and he blinks, almost flinches. He suddenly looks confused and worried as if he just was sleepwalking through the last ten minutes.

The computer suddenly beeped, Bruce had the scepter down and was off to the computer like a shot. Natasha went to follow and Darcy followed after her, shaking off the grip Fury tried to place on her arm. If she had to decide between a stressed Bruce and an untrustworthy Fury, Darcy didn’t care how unsafe she was being, she was picking Bruce.

The others started to argue again as Bruce stared at the readings, Darcy picks up a pad and started taking notes trying to block everything else out.

“Oh my God.” Bruce says, Darcy looks up and she has a second to look at the screen and realize what’s about to happen before the room explodes.

The blast from Clint’s arrow blows Darcy back and she suddenly falls as the floor disappears out from under her. Her stomach plummets, the air fills with smoke and then her head hits hard metal, everything goes foggy and then Darcy is lost to the world.

***

_Jane_

Thor grabs Jane when the arrow explodes and all Jane can do is brace herself as they go flying. She feels Thor hit the ground but doesn’t feel much considering he’s created a shield of god muscle around her. She sucks in a breath only to have to cough it right back out again. She wiggles in Thor’s arms and he releases her; Jane rolls to the floor and finally gets her eyes open. They got blown out the door and into the hallway, the entire place is darkened with smoke, red lights are flashing and there's broken glass everywhere. She slowly gets to her feet with Thor’s help and manages to stagger towards the lab, her eyes still watering from the smoke and debris in the air. She sees Tony and Steve running out the other way, the rest of the lab was empty. Fury was blown out through the window and Darcy-

“Darcy!” Jane yells and runs into the lab.

“Jane!” Thor calls behind her.

Jane runs through and heads toward the back, only to see a hole in the floor, she gets closer and peers down.

“Darcy!” Jane calls again when she sees Darcy still unconscious. Natasha looks up at them.

“Go, get out of here! Get to the bridge now!” Jane doesn’t notice Bruce thrashing around and growling but Thor does because one second Jane is looking down at her friend and the next, she’s in Thor’s arms as he runs down the hallway. Jane tries to squirm but knows it’s useless, it doesn’t mean she stops trying the whole way to the bridge.

***

_Darcy_

Her head is killing her and Darcy would just like to go back to the quiet blackness of sleep but there’s a faraway voice that won’t shut up and something keeps nudging her shoulder. She groans and tries to move away but that sends her whole body screaming, she draws in a sharp breath as everything comes more into focus and she remembers what happened.

The lab exploded, she was near Bruce and Natasha, the floor disappeared.

“Darcy, you need to wake up!” the voice was Natasha and she sounded panicked, she’s never sounded like that before. Darcy figures it’s for a pretty good reason.

She finally tilts her head up; it’s throbbing and she wants to throw up but she nervously swallows and opens her eyes anyway. She sees Natasha pinned down by a pipe looking at her with worry. Natasha sighs and then is reaching over to her communicator in her ear.

“We’re okay.” She answers a question Darcy hadn’t heard. Then Darcy finally hears the growls and looks over to Bruce finally realizing why Natasha had looked so panicked, Bruce is panting, growling, his muscles are bunching up and tightening. Darcy can tell these are all not good things.

“We’re okay right?” Natasha asks Bruce, doubt in her voice and Darcy can feel the dread building in her gut. Darcy looks over and sees Natasha is really stuck, so she takes a deep breath and slowly starts to get up. Everything aches, she knows she’s just going to be one big bruise tomorrow; but besides that, and maybe a slight concussion, she’s in better shape than Natasha at the moment. She gets up, falters on her feet for a second and everything goes spotty, but eventually steadies out. She then slowly makes her way over to the pipe Natasha is stuck under and starts pulling and moving the spy’s leg. Natasha gives her one glance before her gaze is snapping back to Bruce.

“Doctor? Bruce?” Natasha tries. “You got to fight it. This is just what Loki wants.”

Bruce was getting worse, Darcy kept pulling, not even daring to try to speak.

“We’re going to be okay, listen to me-”

“Are you hurt?” A voice calls and Darcy’s attention snaps to the two men.

_Run!_ She silently begs them before going back to trying to wedge Natasha’s foot out of the space it was stuck. They must have gotten the signal because a second later Natasha’s focus was back on Bruce.

“We’re going to be okay. All right? I swear on my life I will get you out of this. You will walk away and never ever-”

“YOUR LIFE!”

That’s not Bruce’s voice.

It makes Darcy jump back in fear and Natasha is trying to pull her up and away. The spy is trying to make her leave, but no matter how fucking terrified Darcy is she doesn’t leave people behind. She didn’t leave the animals behind in that pet store during the Loki fight in New Mexico, she’s not walking away from Natasha now. Darcy grabs her leg and pushes more. She turns away, she ignores the monstrous growls she hears and tries not even to look at Natasha’s face that is frozen in horror. Bruce stumbles away and Darcy allows herself one glance back, right as Bruce is looking back at them. She gasps at his growing green body, but his eyes were unchanged, they were Bruce’s eyes and they were full of guilt and fear. It only lasts a second and then Bruce is groaning and turning away again.

A roar rumbles through the Hulk.

A pipe clangs as it finally releases Natasha.

Natasha shoves her up and off while getting to her own feet, then the agent is quickly pushing her along. They freeze again when they see the Hulk standing a few feet from them but Natasha is already whipping around and pushing Darcy up the staircase. She gets up on the catwalk and screams when Natasha jumps and flips over next to her, the staircase was clean torn off in milliseconds. Natasha is pushing her over a pipe and Darcy lands on a grate, sending shockwaves of pain up through her knees and head. She keeps moving, if she stops, she’s dead. She jumps where Natasha swings over and soon they are both crawling under pipes and grates as the Hulk roars, shaking the entirety of the ship.

They keep moving.

***

_Jane_

Thor puts her down right outside the doors of the bridge right when the Hulk’s first roar breaks through the air. Thor and Jane exchange one more panicked glance before Thor is running towards the noise.

“Foster! Go!” Fury calls and Jane turns to see the man running towards the doors. She decides to follow his order and punch him later, they both push onto the bridge and Fury hurries towards his monitors with Jane following close behind.

“Bring the carrier about to a 1-8-0, heading south! Take us to the water, we’re flying blind.” Fury orders. Jane is already staring at the screens trying to help when the agent pipes up.

“Navigation’s recalibrating after the engine failure.” Jane’s gaze whips to the agent but Fury is already in action.

“Is the sun coming up?”

“Yes sir.”

“Then put it on the left.” Fury exasperatedly orders. Fury turns to Jane and shuffles her to the table.

“Stark and Rogers went to check on the engine, stay with them on camera, keep me updated.” Jane nods, taking the ear piece Fury handed her and taps into the camera Fury gave her to find a grainy and damaged but working picture. See raises the volume and watches as Tony approaches the engine.

“I need you to get to that engine control panel and tell me which relays are in overload position.”

Steve jumps away from the camera’s sight and Tony flies closer to the engine.

“What’s going over there?”

“It seems to run on some form of electricity.” Steve jokes

“Well, you’re not wrong.”

Jane sighs and feels like now would be a good time to interject.

“Stark, Captain Rogers this is Dr. Foster,”

“Foster! Great, Rogers describe what you’re looking at and Foster you translate it back to me.” Tony commands.

Jane nods even though they can’t see and listens while Steve explains the wires and their connections as fast as he can.

***

_Darcy_

Natasha finally let them slow down and rest when they couldn’t hear the Hulk or feel his big lumbering steps shaking everything. Darcy sits and holds her head in her hands, trying desperately to stay awake. Natasha silently crouches by her, looking around, when Darcy hazards a glance in her direction all she sees is pure fear on Natasha’s face.

Turns out it’s true, everyone is scared of something.

She grabs Natasha’s hand and squeezes it; Natasha just looks at her blankly for a second before moving a step closer.

Then the rumbling was heard again, Natasha ducks and drags Darcy along with her. Natasha’s eyes whip around wildly before they land on Darcy. She slowly takes out her gun and signals for Darcy to follow her, Darcy nods and they start to walk again.

They sneak around the edge of the pipes, Natasha waves Darcy ahead and she gets about three steps before she hears the earsplitting roar. Darcy whips around, the world spins and it fills with steam as Natasha shoots at a pipe to distract the Hulk.

“RUN.” Natasha yells and Darcy is going as fast as she can, she gets through the hallway and keeps running, she hears the sparks and feels the glass breaking but doesn’t stop until she hears Natasha grunt and then a dull thud. Darcy stops in her tracks to see Natasha on the ground; Darcy starts towards her then makes eye contact with the Hulk and stops moving. The Hulk ignores Darcy in favor of going for Natasha, he gets closer and raises his arm. Darcy is screaming, to distract him, to warn Natasha, to get help she doesn’t know.

Before the Hulk can touch her, a blur is crashing into him and taking the Hulk through the wall. Darcy stands there shaking, she figures out a second later it was Thor when she hears him yell for the agents and workers to run. She tries to get her heart rate to slow down as she goes over to Natasha. She crouches down and just looks at her for a second, panting and covered in swear, Natasha looks two seconds from a panic attack.

“Natasha?” Darcy questions. The redhead finally closes her eyes and lets her head lay back against the wall and catches her breath. She doesn’t say anything but she does take Darcy’s hand and squeezes it.

***

_Jane_

Jane waits for confirmation and when Roger finally confirms the relays are intact, she sighs in relief.

“What’s our next move?” Steve asks.

“Even if I clear the rotors this thing won’t re-engage without a jump.” Tony starts. Jane scans the blueprints and knows what he’s about to say.

“You’re going to get in and push?!” Jane exclaims.

“If that thing gets up to speed, you’ll get shredded.”

“That stator control unit can reverse the polarity…” Tony starts explaining.

“Speak. English.” Steve orders. Jane hears Tony scoff.

“Steve, there should be a red lever, it should be able to slow the rotors down.” Jane explains.

“I see it!” Steve confirms.

“Great, stand by it. Wait for my word.”

Jane is trying to follow along with Tony and blocking everything out but one shout manages to pierce through.

“GRENADE!” Agent Hill yells. Jane’s head snaps in her direction and then she is thrown out of her chair and goes sliding across the floor. She coughs and hisses. Her arms and face covered in burns and cuts was the worst of the damage.

She stays down and watches as Fury and Hill manage to take down the three intruders. She breaths out a sigh and Fury is already over and picking her up to keep moving. More people come in and Fury pushes Jane down off the catwalk, she manages to land semi gracefully.

Fury and Hill shoot as many as they can as announcements come over the intercom system.

“We got perimeter breach. Hostiles are in SHIELD gear.” It starts out, Jane madly looks around and finds a cracked pad on the floor. She drags it over and starts tapping into the camera feeds. She sees the grainy footage as the Hulk and Thor burst through the lab floor.

“We have the Hulk and Thor on Research Level 4. Levels 2 and 3 are dark.”

“Sir the Hulk is going to tear this place apart.”

“Get his attention.” Fury orders. Jane’s gaze whips to Fury in question but he refuses to look at her. Hill yells out an order and Jane turns back finding the cameras for the hanger and watching in shock as the pilot shoots at the Hulk, he jumps on the plane and they are out of sight. Jane releases a shaky breath and ducks down when a bullet gets close to where she’s hiding.

She was in the middle of a fucking war.

More explosions crash overhead and Jane screams as she tries to shield her head.

The next time she opens her eyes she watches as her screen goes fuzzy. Jane’s eyes widen as she looks around, a computer virus rips through and scrambles everything.

That’s the moment the world tips sideways and they started falling out of the sky.

***

_Darcy_

Darcy is trying to sit there and see straight when Natasha suddenly moves next to her.

“This is Agent Romanoff. I copy.” She says. She takes another breath and then looks at Darcy.

“Barton.” Is all she says and Darcy sucks in a breath.

“Go get him.” She rasps out.

Natasha nods. “Get to the bridge if you can.” Natasha gets up and starts to go off.

“Natasha!” Darcy calls, Natasha shakily looks back. “You come back too.” Darcy says.

Natasha takes another deep breath and she keeps running. Darcy collapses back down into a seated position and takes some more deep breaths. Her concussion isn’t bad but her head still fucking hurts.

“It’s fine, it’s fine, Clint’s almost back. They separate, they form, it’s almost over….”

Then she remembers why they form.

Darcy is running as fast as she can.

She runs down hallways and pulls herself quickly behind corners when she hears running feet. Her head is beating in time with her heart and she feels like she can’t take a deep enough breath.

It takes too long to finally get to the bridge; she’s walking over fallen bodies and everyone is panicking around blurring screens. Fury and Jane are nowhere to be seen.

Darcy ignores everyone and rushes to the table, one screen was on and covered in rotor blueprints. Darcy pushes them aside and searches for security camera access. She madly flips through the list until she finds the one for Loki’s cell, she clicks on it.

The screen opens just for Darcy to watch the spear rip through Coulson.

He collapses, Loki drops Thor, and Darcy still stays frozen while the world chaotically moves around her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...sad ending, I apologize for that but next comes the Battle of New York and the Darcy & Clint reunion! Get excited guys, more to come!


	9. And Now I Can See Every Single Possiblity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is starting to wrap up folks! I've got this chapter and then one more and then an epilogue! I'm so excited to finish this story and get to the next part of this series. 
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy the Battle of New York and after the stress I put Darcy, Jane and Pepper through they all will be getting a nice break.

_“That person who helps the others simply because it should or must be done, and because it is the right thing to do, is indeed without a doubt, a real superhero.” – Stan Lee_

_Darcy_

Darcy sits their frozen at the table until someone grabs her shoulder, she is spinning around and aiming her fist before she can think about it. Hill catches it effortlessly, even with her own potential concussion.

“Need to work on your self-defense.” Hill says, Darcy goes limp and allows Hill to lead her over to the stairs where a medic is waiting. He quickly looks Darcy over and does confirm she has a minor concussion, he applies butterfly bandages to her forehead and gives her a few pills to pop.

The news goes through when the medic was checking out Hill’s head wound. She suddenly touches her ear and waves the medic away; Darcy silently waits as Hill’s face falls. She slowly turns to Darcy and looks at her with grief in her eyes.

“Coulson.” She starts and Darcy just nods.

“Watched the footage” Darcy finally croaks out and the tears she had been holding back leak out. Hill nods in her direction and they both sit there for a second, as they let the world continue without them. Darcy doesn’t come back down to earth until Jane is crouching in front of her.

“Darcy, I need you to drink this.” Jane says holding out a water bottle. Darcy blinks absently.

_You knew this was going to happen, they need this, he’s fine. You are allowed to feel shit but don’t stop._

Darcy practically orders herself, so she eventually reaches out to take the water bottle and just hold Jane’s hand, she chugs the bottle down and holds on tight. Jane gets it, and holds back just as tight. Darcy finishes the bottle and takes a deep breath.

“He’s….?” Darcy starts to ask Jane, wondering if Jane had gone along with Fury and Jane nods.

“He is.” Jane confirms and Darcy nods again and takes a deep breath before looking around. She sees Steve and Tony both looking beaten to hell, making their way into the room. Darcy turns back to Jane and she’s already nodding; she squeezes Darcy’s hand one more time before getting back up.

“I’m helping the others find Thor and Bruce.” Jane says. Darcy gets up as Jane walks back over to the busted computer stations. Darcy slowly walks over to the table getting a brief nod from Fury and Steve. Tony just stares at her for a second before he nudges the chair next to him with his foot. Darcy doesn’t even question it she just slumps into the chair. She keeps looking down at the table, eventually Fury finally speaks up.

“These were in Phil Coulson’s jacket.” Darcy doesn’t look up.

“I guess he never did get you to sign them.”

Fury throws them on the table and they land softly, but Darcy still flinches when she sees the red out of the corner of her eye. She hates those stupid cards.

“We’re dead in the air up here, Our communications, the location of the Cube…Banner. I got nothing for you.” Fury is laying it on thick and honestly, she knows Fury is trying to inspire them but honestly his sad pep talk just makes her want to punch him more.

“Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier.” Fury walks over and stands across from Darcy. He pauses and makes sure he and Darcy are making eye contact and then he refuses to break it.

“There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative.”

Darcy takes in a steadying breath.

“The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, to see if they could become something more.”

Fury looks at Darcy again as if to ask, are you listening?

“To see if they could work together to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing that idea.”

Tony and Darcy both rise from the table at the same exact time and in that moment, they just stare at each other. Darcy is the first one to break, she turns and walks out of the room. Tony’s eyes follow her for a second before he also turns and leaves the room.

***

Darcy gets lost in the hallways again but this time it’s on purpose. Fury’s words are still echoing in her head and she absolutely hates him, because she’s not mad at him anymore, so now she has no one to punch. She hates how Fury already somehow knows her like he knows everyone else. He said those words because Tony and Steve needed to hear them but so did she, Fury just reminded her once again what she was fighting for.

This entire time was a rollercoaster of ups and downs, Darcy wanted to walk away in so many moments, wanted to run screaming but it wasn’t in her heart or her nature to give up. She was scared, she was going to continue to be scared and lose hope but Fury said so himself, they needed people like the avengers, but they also needed people like Darcy and even Jane, heck even Pepper could be thrown into the mix.

People who refused to walk away because they knew they didn’t ever want to give up.

Darcy sighs and takes some of those yoga breaths Maggie was always trying to teach her to make her chill the fuck out. This time they sort of work, she finds a new sense of calm coming over her, or maybe it’s just the fact that she now knows with 100% certainty that Jane, Thor, Tony, Clint and Pepper all have her back through this, hell she could probably include Natasha and Fury in that group now.

Darcy didn’t even realize she had scrunched herself into a ball on the floor in the middle of the hallway until someone was touching her on the shoulder. For the first time in the last few days she doesn’t jackknife into action, once again she’s in the eye of the storm. She looks up and Natasha is kneeling next to her, Darcy blinks a few times in surprise.

“How did you find me?” She asks and Natasha turns her head. Darcy follows her gaze but all she sees is the empty hallway, at the very end theirs a door with a guard.

“I was walking out to give Clint a second and saw you sitting out here.” Natasha answers. That makes Darcy spring into action, she tries to stand up but almost falls back down because she is still sore and dizzy. Natasha apparently already predicted this as she is right there steadying her.

“Clint! He’s….” Darcy asks without finishing her sentence and she definitely has to add Natasha to group T-Hop soon because the woman seems to know Darcy better than herself at this point. Natasha just nods and nudges her head again in the direction of the door. That’s all Darcy needs, she speed walks down the rest of that hallway and Natasha must nod at the guard or something because the dude actually opens the door and stands aside for her. Darcy enters the small room and her eyes make a beeline for Clint Barton who looks up and meet her eyes. They are back to normal, sadder than they were before but the instant he sees her Darcy watches the mischievous sparkle gleam a bit in them. She of all things, feels her lip wobbling and she absolutely refuses to cry again.

“I hate you so much you little shit.” Darcy rasps out and being the asshole that he is Clint Barton actually manages to grin at her.

“Feelings mutual.” He says.

Darcy is across the room and engulfing him in a hug, he wraps his arms as tight as he can around her.

“Nat filled me in on everything, you did so fucking good kid.” Clint mutters to her and Darcy buries herself deeper in his arms.

“So, I take it you two do know each other.” Natasha said from behind them and Darcy hears Clint snort for a second before he and Darcy break out of the hug. Darcy turns to see Nat almost smiling at them.

“Nat.” Clint says with actual emotion in his voice and Darcy turns to him to see him smiling. He looks at Darcy and Darcy looks at him confused for a second which just makes Clint’s grin grow.

“Darcy…. she knows some shit; I’ll try to explain later but…Nat she’s the one that got Laura and I off our asses about you.” Clint says and Darcy freezes for a second in panic. She turns around to see Natasha looking at her almost…awed.

Darcy is then very confused as she is suddenly being hugged by the Black Widow.

“Thank you.” She says softly. Darcy doesn’t know what to do so she pats Natasha on the back. Natasha pulls away and looks at Darcy.

“Thank you for my family.” She squeezes Darcy’s shoulders and then steps around her to stand near Clint and take his hand. Clint winks at Darcy and has a smug expression on his face. As if he’s saying you’re welcome for your new super assassin spy best friend. I mean, Darcy already had one so hey collect them all. Darcy hops up on the bed and takes a seat next to Clint, she’s literally considering trying to take a nap because she hasn’t slept in 24 hours and they’re about to be a raging alien battle all over New York but knowing her luck she would sleep through the whole thing. She slumps against Clint’s shoulder and waits for the craziness to start back up again.

***

_Jane_

Jane is walking towards the lab, seeing if she could recover any of the equipment to help track Thor or Bruce when Tony Stark rushes by her carrying of all things his busted-up Iron Man helmet.

“Stark?” Jane asks making Tony abruptly halt in his tracks to turn to her.

“What’s going on? What are you doing with that?” Jane asks, pointing to the Iron Man helmet. Tony just stares at her for a second then suddenly snaps his fingers and points to her.

“Foster! You studied the tesseract with Selvig.” It sounds like it’s supposed to be a question so Jane nods her head.

“Yes.”

“Great, so you know how it works and could like, turn it off.” Tony asks.

_What the fuck?!_

“I mean…figuratively I could figure it out.” Jane squints her eyes. “If you knew where it was.” Tony contemplates her for a second.

“We’d have to sneak you into the city, you would have to sneak into the tower and stay low, you could be caught and I can guarantee if Loki sees you, he will probably kill you.” Tony says and Jane can tell he’s giving her an out but she doesn’t want it.

“Yeah but the Avengers will have my back and also you know, the whole rest of the world is at stake so.” Jane shrugs and Tony actually smirks at her before grabbing her arm and pulling her along.

“I gotta fix the suit but then I’m gonna have to get you down there in one piece, I do not want to explain to Thor that I dropped his girlfriend.” Tony jokes and Jane knows he’s joking, Thor would kill him if he dropped her.

***

_Darcy_

Darcy is about half asleep at this point when the door opens and Captain America steps through. Steve gives Darcy one confused glance before looking at Natasha.

“Time to go.” Steve says. Natasha looks confused as she glances at Darcy and then back to Steve.

“Go where?”

“I’ll tell you on the way. Can you fly one of those jets?”

The door opens and Clint steps out of the washroom.

“I can.”

Steve looks at Natasha and Darcy and they both nod their heads.

“You have a suit?”

“Yeah.”

“Then suit up.” Steve then looks over at Darcy. “Foster is going with Stark to the ground.”

Darcy is jumping up and getting all in Captain America’s face, I mean as much as she can, the man is built and fucking tall.

“What the hell do you mean?!” she asks wildly and Steve actually takes a step back.

“Stark got her, said she knows how to turn off the tesseract.”

“Fuck! I got to get to the bridge.” Darcy mutters to herself and runs down the hallway only to stop and run back in the room. She makes Steve stutter in his steps in surprise and hides her grin about it.

“All of you better fucking come back.” Darcy says in her most threatening tone, glaring at each one individually. Clint has the gall to smile and salute her.

She flips him off and runs down the hall with a fucking smile on her face.

***

_Fury_

“Sir."

“Agent Hill.”

“Those cards, they were in Coulson’s locker, not in his jacket.”

“They needed the push.”

“ _We have an unauthorized departure from Bay 6.”_

Fury smiles.

“Jane Foster is on the fucking ground!” Darcy Lewis yells and Fury actually smirks and turns around, walking over to his station.

“Well then you better go run the coms Lewis.” Fury says and Darcy just blinks at him for a second.

“What?”

He smirks again and then reaches for the jacket draped over a railing and throws it at her. She catches and looks at it, it’s an official SHIELD jacket with the crest and everything. She looks a little stunned for a second and looks back at him.

“Welcome to the team.”

“You don’t know my size.”

“Barton did.”

She takes deep breath and nods at him; he nods back and then nods to one of the intact stations on the bridge. She runs over to it while shrugging her jacket off and switching it with the SHIELD one.

Fury turns back to the windows and looks out at the ocean.

“Get our communications back up. Whatever you have to do.” He orders.

***

_Jane_

Tony does almost drop her, but to be fair to him his suit is stuttering so they both almost fell out of the sky a few times. He drops her off about four blocks from the tower.

“Get to the tower, pass the front desk and just use the code 10-06-68. Jarvis will get you up there, tell him to stay in sneak mode.” Tony quickly informs her before turning around and blasting back off into the sky. Jane takes a deep steadying breath, she puts her hand on her back, where she had hidden the handgun that someone had handed to her, just in case. She then took another deep breath and starting running towards the tower. She’s a little worried that she forgot to tell someone that she’s never shot a gun before but right now there are bigger issues.

She arrives in front of the tower and smooths down her hair to appear calm, she walks into the lobby like she belongs their and makes a beeline for the elevator.

“Excuse me, miss?” She hears and Jane looks over to see a security guard approaching her. Jane keeps walking and then glances towards the ceiling.

“Jarvis?” She says as if she was speaking to an actual person. “10, 06, 68?”

“Accepted, right this way Ms. Foster.” A voice in the fucking building answers back and an elevator on the other side of the room opens up. Jane gives one glance behind her to see the security guards are now walking back to the desk and she breathe a sigh of relief. She gets in the elevator and it closes.

“Jarvis, um sneak mode and then I need to get to the top floor?” At any other time, Jane would be fascinated and have questions for Jarvis but right now she’s focused on her goal.

“Right away Ms. Foster.” Jarvis responds and the elevator lights dim and slowly, so it makes less noise, it starts to make its way up to the top. The elevator slows more and more until they stop moving and then it’s doors inch by inch slowly slide open. Jane blinks for a second and then her eyes go wide as she finds herself looking at Tony and Loki with Loki’s back to her. Tony is at the bar and his eyes skim over her quickly.

“But let’s do a head count, here.”

Jane runs and ducks behind a shelf and waits.

“Your brother, the demigod, a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend. A man with breathtaking anger-management issues, a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, you’ve managed to piss off every single one of them.”

“That was the plan.”

“Not a great plan.”

Jane finds herself scoffing and silently agreeing with Tony.

“When they come, and they will come, they’ll come for you.”

“I have an army.”

“We have a Hulk.”

Jane takes deep breath and peeks over just a bit to watch them. Tony and Loki are practically standing toe to toe.

“Because if we can’t protect the earth, you can be damn well sure we’ll avenge it.”

Jane’s respect for Tony Stark grows in that moment.

“How will your friends have time for me when they are so busy fighting you?” Loki whispers and he raises the staff. Jane can feel herself getting to her feet, she meets Tony’s eyes and opens her mouth.

But nothing happens.

Tony looks at Loki shocked, he looks at Jane shocked, Jane closes her mouth and ducks back down.

She hears a gasping sound, then both hears and feels it when Tony gets thrown to the ground.

“You will all fall before me!”

“Deploy!”

Then the window crashes and Jane sees it when Tony’s body is flung out the window, followed by a big bulky blur of red and gold.

Jane swallows her gasp, shuts her eyes and that is the moment Darcy’s voice fills the ear her communicator is in.

***

_Darcy_

Darcy is just finishing figuring out how to tap into everyone’s coms when she sees the screen light up and all the Avengers minus Thor and Bruce and plus Jane line up on the monitor.

“I’m in!” She cheers.

“Darcy?” Clint asks slightly confused.

“Coms are back up and you’re all hooked in to me and the rest of the team.” Darcy explains.

“Loki just threw Tony out the top story window!” Jane whispers panicked and fast. Before anyone had any time to freak out though, sudden deep panting was heard.

“It’s fine, I’m fine, Jarvis caught me.” Tony says. Darcy blows out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. She then rolls her shoulders back and buckles down.

It’s time to get to work.

***

  
_Jane_

“And theirs one other person you pissed off. His name was Phil.” Jane sighs in relief when she hears Tony’s voice. Then the sound of a blast and Loki’s yell. Jane finally peeks out again to see Loki flat on his back and sliding across the floor. Jane looks at Tony and he points to the doorway to the roof. She nods and starts to run to it.

That’s when the tesseract turns on.

The whole building shook for a second and sounds like someone ripping a hole in the goddamn sky fills Jane’s ears. Iron Man looks up for a second and then goes blasting straight up into the sky. Jane stands there for a second, staring out the window, waiting for something.

A few seconds later aliens, honest to go real aliens in foreign armor and flying contraptions speed past the tower and fly towards the city. Jane inhales sharply and then runs straight for the stairs, banging through the door and taking them two at a time. She hears the echoes of explosions and screams; they make her run faster.

***

_Darcy_

They still don’t have video of everything, turns out their genius system of being able to hack all electronics has been screwed ten different ways to Sunday. But she still has sound, Darcy can hear Jane panting as she runs up the stairs, can hear the explosions from Tony’s gauntlets and hears it when the jet finally hits the skyline.

“Stark we’re on your three, heading northeast.”

“What? Did you stop for drive-through?” Darcy laughs under her breath, at least the sarcasm is alive and well in the middle of battle.

“Thor just joined the party, having a brotherly spat on the tower.” Tony throws out.

“When their done being murder siblings someone hand him a com.” Darcy orders.

Darcy waits and looks back to the scrambling agents, what she wouldn’t give for video right now.

A blast and a crash breaks through her ears and has her whipping back to the blank screen.”

“What was that?!” Darcy practically yells.

“Loki hit us; we’re going down.” Natasha tells her.

Darcy sighs and then calls over to the agents.

“We get visual back up yet?”

“Still cleaning up the virus!”

God dammit.

***

_Clint_

Their landing sucks, he hates Loki more now and he’s pretty sure he almost killed them all but they were alive so Clint was counting it as a win. He lands the jet, causing probably an exorbitant amount of property damage that Fury is going to complain about later. They all tear out of the ship and run out into the alien warzone that is New York City at the moment. Rogers is already running down the street.

“We got to get back up there!”

They’re all running down the block towards the tower when a great groaning noise reaches them. They all slow down and pause. Clint has no clue what it is but weirdly enough it sounds like…. metal whales?

Then out of the dark portal like fucking alien Moby Dick/Godzilla swims out of space and into the city.

_That is one big nasty motherfucking space worm_. Clint thinks and can feel himself gripping his bow tighter. He reaches for his com.

“So, we now have giant metal space worms.” He announces. Natasha gives him a look and no one talks for a second, then Jane and Darcy simultaneously speak.

“What?”

“Yeah, that was my first reaction too.” Clint says.

The alien monster flies as if it’s swimming, cutting through the air like water. It slinks past them and all three of them watch as more alien creatures shoot out of its armor and start clinging and scaling to the buildings.

“Stark are you seeing this?”

“Seeing. Still working on believing.”

_You and me both._ Clint thinks again, still staring after the creature.

“Where’s Banner? Has he shown up yet?” Stark asks. Steve turns to look at Clint and Natasha but they both have the same confused look on their faces.

“Banner?” Steve asks.

“Just keep me posted.”

***

_Darcy_

“Where’s Banner? Has he shown up yet?” Tony asks and Darcy blinks in confusion. Does Tony know something?

“Banner?” Steve says, assuring Darcy that she’s not the only one that’s confused. Darcy looks back at the techs still trying to clean out the virus from the system. Darcy has to hand it to Clint, his arrow really scrambled the computers, SHIELD must make pretty good gadgets. Darcy pauses when she realizes that SHIELD made the computer virus.

“Agent Hill!” Darcy shouts and the woman’s attention whips over to her.

“It was Agent Barton’s arrow, it’s a SHIELD virus. You have to hack it like you’re an enemy of SHIELD or something.” Darcy calls. Hill seems to consider this for a second before turning and shouting orders into her com. Darcy turns back to her computer and tries to follow along as Tony asks Jarvis to find the monsters soft spot.

***

_Jane_

Jane barges through the door to the roof and is blinded by the sunlight for a minute. She blinks rapidly and sees that it’s not just the sun but the light glinting off the metal and the cube itself producing an eye searing glow. Jane slowly approaches the machine; she gets as close as she can to the beam before the forcefield causes her to bounce back a little. She then looks up at the beam and at that moment hears the crunch of the gravel behind her. She turns and ducks right as Erik swings his fist out towards her. Jane runs to the left and turns around to see Erik looking ragged and panting, he looks like a wild animal.

“Erik, I know you’re in there, you have to-”

Erik interrupts her by full on charging her giving Jane no choice, she grabs the gun firmly, pulls it out and raises it above her head. She moves to the side as Erik runs past her and as soon as she sees the back of Erik’s head brings the butt of the gun down hard on his head. Erik Selvig stops moving, he wobbles for a second before crumpling to the ground, unconscious.

Jane gasps in relief and stares at him for a second.

“Sorry about that, you’ll wake up feeling better.”

Jane then turns back to the Tesseract and runs over to the computer and starts learning how the machine works.

***

_Clint_

They are ducked behind an overturned taxi cab on what looks like a war-torn street. Steve finally comes running back to them and slides next to Natasha.

“We’ve got civilians still trapped up here.” Clint tells him, eyeing the full bus and other cars that were jammed closed on the road. More aliens come tearing down the street from above them, they aim their guns and they all watch as storefronts explode and civilians go running for cover.

“They’re fish in a barrel down there.”

The blasts start turning in their direction, Steve ducks while Natasha takes aim and Clint ducks and runs to get a closer look. Clint glances back and exchanges a nod with Natasha before they both look to Steve.

“We got this. Its good. Go.” Natasha encourages Steve.

“Do you think you can hold them off?”

Clint feels himself smile as he turns to Steve.

“Captain.” He says and then loads an arrow. “It would be my genuine pleasure.”

He can see Natasha rolling her eyes at his clear excitement over the situation but that just makes Clint smirk more. He then stands up and lets the arrow fly right into the head of an alien.

It drops to the ground instantly.

Clint Barton is back.

Natasha covers Rogers as he jumps off the bridge and runs off. Aliens seem to descend upon them the second that Rogers leaves. Natasha covers Clint as he runs over to the bus and helps pry the window open.

“Alright let’s get you guys out of here.” Clint calls and a young girl reaches out to grab his hand, he hoists her down. Continuously checking on Natasha while he guides kids and women out of the wrecked bus.

“Almost out!” Clint calls to her and then helps pull the jammed door open.

“Head for shelter!” Clint yells to them as he runs back to Natasha, grabbing his bow and stringing an arrow in it.

“Just like Budapest all over again.” Natasha calls to him. Clint breaks his concentration for one second to shoot a look at Natasha.

“You and I remember Budapest very differently.”

Natasha smirks, a conversation for later

***

_Darcy_

Darcy’s screens light up and she instantly has a camera pointed at Steve, Natasha and Clint.

“We have visual!” Darcy calls excitedly and then jumps a little when lightening comes out of nowhere and fries a bunch of the aliens.

Thor lands seconds later.

“Thor has entered the battle.” Darcy announces then starts going through all the security cameras she can find around New York City.

“Darcy? Jane?” Thor asks.

“Hey buddy how you doing?” Darcy says absentmindedly.

“Jane are you at Stark Tower?” Thor has worry in his voice.

“Gotta talk about that later Thor.” Jane says distractedly and Darcy laughs.

Steve gets down to business and Darcy gets another camera view and laughs again at Clint having to pick up his arrows.

“Hawkeye’s got his eye on the prize.” Darcy mutters.

“How do we do this?”

“As a team.”

“I have unfinished business with Loki.”

“Yeah, get in line.”

Steve starts making a plan when they all turn and Darcy switches feed to see…

“Bruce.” Darcy says in surprise, how could she forget Bruce sweeping in on his noble, rusted steed.

“So, this all seems horrible.”

Bruce Banner, scientist and aficionado of gallows humor.

“I’m bringing the party to you.” Tony says and that’s all the warning Darcy gets before the giant metal space worm comes on her screen. She rolls her chair back in surprise.

"Holy fucking shit.”

“I don’t see how that’s a party.”

Darcy’s mouth stays open in shock as she watches Bruce slowly walk towards the giant alien worm.

“Dr. Banner. Now might be a really good time for you to get angry.”

“That’s my secret, Captain.” Darcy swears she can see Bruce’s grin from here.

“I’m always angry.”

Then it’s as if Bruce and the Hulk morph into one, the way the muscles grow and green invades his skin, it’s like a working machine.

Bruce isn’t a monster, he’s the Hulk.

The hulk then drives his fist into the space worm and the entire thing folds like an accordion.

“Fuck yeah Bruce.”

The beast sinks like the titanic, floats to the top before collapsing the other way, the armor crumbling off it in chunks. Darcy watches as Tony shoots a missile into its soft underbelly and it explodes in a big fiery inferno.

All the aliens in the area start roaring in anger, but here’s the thing, the Avengers roar back. Hulk screams in Fury as they all stand armed and ready as a unit.

Assembled.

Darcy lets out a breathy laugh, it was an amazing.

***

_Clint_

More giant worm space aliens are flying out of the portal along with the rest of the evil cavalry.

“Call it captain.”

“All right, listen up. Until we get that portal closed our priority is containment. Dr. Foster, how are we looking up there?” Steve asks.

Clint hears a stressful exhale from the coms before Jane hesitantly responds.

“So, I’ve figured it out, but the bad news is I’m going to need Loki’s staff.”

_Because nothing even has a big red self-destruct button on its_ Clint sarcastically thinks.

“Okay, getting the staff, on our to do list.” Steve then turns to Clint. “Barton, I want you on that roof. Eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays.” Clint nods and is already looking up at the buildings to find a perch. He then looks over at Stark.

_Why do I get the feeling I’m about to regret this?_

“Can you give me a lift?”

“Right. Better clench up, Legolas.”

Then Tony is grabbing him from the back, he gets a firm grip on his gear and suddenly they are shooting up at speeds that Clint has never felt outside of an aircraft.

_Holy Fucking Shit!_

Adrenaline is rushing through him and honestly, he both hates it, and loves it at the same time.

***

_Darcy_

_“And Hulk… Smash.”_

Darcy smirks at the Captain’s orders but felt her mouth opening in of all things a laugh once she watches the Hulk jump into action. He super Mario jumps onto a skyscraper and is grabbing aliens like their apples off a tree. He jumps from building to building like he’s fucking King Kong and decimates any aliens in his path, stone crumbles to sand under his fists.

“Go Bruce.” Darcy mutters with a smile on her lips.

***

_Jane_

She hears the crack of the lightning and turns to see Thor conducting electricity from the top of the Chrysler building.

She ducks when she hears him yell and lightning comes shooting straight for the portal. She hears the roars and explosions, looks up to see falling debris and alien worm guts falling to the ground. A huge gnarly chunk falls a few feet away from her and she just stares at it in open mouth fascination and horror.

_Well, this is new._

_***_

_Clint_

“Stark, you got a lot of strays sniffing your tail.”

“What else you got?”

“Thor’s taking a squadron down on sixth.”

“And he didn’t invite me.”

Clint feels himself smirking and can already tell how Natasha is going to complain about the combined stupidity of him and Stark.

***

_Darcy_

“Lewis.” Steve calls and Darcy looks between the dozen windows she has open until she finds Steve and Natasha on the street.

“Got my attention, what’s up?”

“Nothing’s going to change until we get that portal closed, any eyes on the staff?”

Darcy checks the monitors and manages to see Loki flying by a bunch of them but never stopping for too long.

“Looks like you’re going to have to chase the bastard to get close to him.” Darcy advises. Nat and Steve look towards the vehicles in the air.

“If you wanna get up their you’re gonna need a ride.” Steve said

“Could use a boost.” Natasha says and Steve looks so nervous.

“Are you sure about this?”

“Yeah, it’s gonna be fun.”

Darcy watches and holds her breath as she watches Steve crouch down before Natasha ran at him. Steve lifts the shield, Natasha jumps and soon she’s a blur, spinning sharply in the air. She then stops and is whisked away by the alien flying scooter that she grabs on to.

“Damn, that was fucking cool. I’ll keep eyes the aerial cat and mouse game.” Darcy says as she tries to rapidly switch between cameras, watching Natasha and Loki flying through the air.

“Roger that. Got my hands full down here.” Steve grits out as he ducks another alien blast with his shield.

Darcy starts looking for other avengers to send his way.

“Wait! Thor, that worms going to land-…. and you just broke Grand Central Station.”  
  
  


***

_Jane_

Jane hears a groan behind her and turns to see Erik waking up. Jane grabs for her gun again until she gets a good look into the man’s eyes and sees them fade to their natural blue color. She drops the weapon and lets out a sigh of relief before running over to the man.

“Hey Erik, good to have you back.” She smiles at him as he looks confusedly around. He eventually locks eyes with her for a second and then is looking past her at the machine and his eyes are widening in horror.

“The tesseract-” He starts but they are stretched for time so Jane cuts him off by nodding.

“Needs the staff, we know, already on it. Think you’re up for helping me get ready to close this portal?” Jane asks and Erik takes a deep breath before heaving himself up with Jane’s help and approaching the machine.

“Erik’s awake and we’re working on it but we still need the staff.” Jane says into her communicator.

“Working on it!” Natasha calls back sounding winded of all things.

Jane rushes to the laptop Erik props back up and helps him start to put in the equations.

***

“Director Fury, the council has made a decision.”

“I recognize the council has made their decision. But given that it’s a stupid-ass decision, I’ve elected to ignore it.”

***

_Clint_

He knew Natasha had been chasing Loki but at some point, the chase had switched and when Nat called his codename, he turned to see Loki shooting at Natasha. Just for one second, one millisecond before he could clamp down on it, his heart was in his throat and he saw red. Clint swore on his life in that moment that Loki wouldn’t touch one fucking hair on Natasha’s head.

He gave himself that one moment of emotional turmoil then locked it down and got down to business.

“Nat what are you doing?”

“Uh! A little help!”

Clint was already lining up his shot, pushing down all his desires to gut Loki and focusing on the act of the bow itself. He grins when Loki comes into range.

“I got him.”

He let the arrow fly and watches its trajectory; he’s so focused it takes him a second to realize that Loki had managed to catch it. He can feel himself gritting his teeth when that sickening smile of his blooms on his face. He doesn’t even think through his action as he hits the button to explode the arrow.

***

_Jane_

They both hear the explosion and see Loki fly to the building; Jane and Erik exchange a look before Jane runs over the edge to see what’s happening. She watches Loki stand up and has to cover her ears when the Hulk suddenly roars and jumps up onto the balcony. He grabs Loki and sends the villain careening through the window.

Right behind them Natasha lands roughly on the stone and doesn’t move for a second as she catches her breath.

“Agent Romanoff the staff!” Jane calls and watches as Natasha looks over and grabs it.

“Got you covered, coming up now.” Natasha says before she runs into the room the Hulk and Loki had just disappeared into.

***

“Enough! You are, all of you, beneath me! I am a god, you dull creature. And I will not be bullied by-”

WHAM! SMASH! CRACK!

“Puny god.”

***

_Darcy_

“Sir we have a bird in motion. Anyone on the deck, we have a rouge bird. We need to shut it down. Repeat, takeoff is not authorized.”

Darcy spins around in her chair just to watch Fury running out of the room and she knows it’s time. She opens a channel on the screen and types in Pepper’s number, she taps her fingers on the consul as she waits for the call to go through.

“Darcy!” Pepper practically shouts as she picks up her phone. That answers the question of if Pepper has seen the news or not.

“Hey Pepper, just stay on the line and remember everything is going to be okay, I promise.” Darcy swears.

“It’s happening? They’re actually going to try to nuke New York City?!” Pepper seems both scared and baffled beyond belief.

“Yep, seems like the people in power aren’t really the best choices, go figure.” Darcy says as she waits for Fury’s orders to Tony to go through, they coms.

***

“Stark, do you hear me? You have a missile headed straight for the city.”

“How long?”

“Three minutes, max.”

*

“I can close it. Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down.”

“Do it!”

“No, wait.”

“Stark these things are still coming.”

“I got a nuke coming in. It’s gonna blow in less than a minute.”

*

_Darcy_

“He’s got the nuke.”

“Put me through.”

“Pepper-”

“Darcy! Put me through now!”

***

_Pepper_

Pepper clutches the phone tight to her ear as her eyes stay glued to the TV, not willing to look away for one second.

“Tony, I have Pepper.” Darcy’s voice says through the phone and a minute later Tony’s voice comes through in a loving and panicked tone.

“Pep.” Tony says, already sounding defeated and Pepper hates that, Tony should never sound like that.

“Tony.” Pepper barely manages to get that out without her voice cracking and her rolling into terrified sobs. He could probably tell though considering his response.

“I’m guessing you’re watching the news?” He tries to joke and one muffled sob makes its way through before she can stop it.

“Pepper I…” Tony starts out and Pepper stays quiet. “God, Pep, I love you so much. I’m so sorry for everything you have to put up with. You deserve the fucking world…and I’m going to try to give it to you.” He finishes and Pepper can feel the tears falling down her face.

“I love you too Tony, no matter what I love you. You’re worth it, your worth all of it.” She takes a deep breath before going on. “That why you have to come back, come back to me Tony.” Pepper finishes her sentence right as she watches the fast red and gold blur dive into the space portal.

“Tony?” She practically begs but she hears nothing but static. She lets out another sob and drops her phone. Her face falls into her hands as she tries to take a deep breath.

_Oh god, oh god, oh god._

***

_Darcy_

Everyone in the Helcarrier is cheering but Darcy refuses to move or make a sound until her Uncle falls back into Earth’s orbit.

Those few seconds last a lifetime.

“Close it…” Steve finally says sadly when no victorious Iron Man comes flying out. Darcy keeps her eyes glued to her screen, she ignores Jane’s protests, she ignores everything that isn’t on her screen right now. Her whole body is drawn in tight and she doesn’t move until the small Iron Man suit comes falling out right as the hole in the sky disappears. She screams and jumps up from her chair only to fall right back into it to continue watching.

“He’s not slowing down.” Thor says.

_Don’t worry Fabio, the big guys got him._ Darcy thinks and she lets out a laugh of pure relief and euphoria when the Hulk jumps up and cradles Iron Man like a newborn baby, then he jumps to the ground and out of sight. She has to wait a few more scary seconds but over the coms she hears a roar and a distant yell of surprise.

“He’s okay.” Steve finally says. Darcy closes her eyes and leans her head back to rest against the chair. She needs about a thousand hours of sleep and to hug the life out of Jane, Bruce and Tony but Captain Rogers was right.

We’re all okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I have a Budapest explanation and you will get the answer later!
> 
> Also, the code that Tony gave to Jane is an all access code and it's Rhodey's birthday! I couldn't fit the epic brotp in this story so I gave it a nod. Tony loves his Rhodey!


	10. We'll Be United

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM BLOWN AWAY!!! Seriously guys, the reviews blew me away, I never imagined the response I'm getting for this story and this is just part 1!!! I am so thankful for all the reviews, they made me smile every time, and to those that are multi chapter reviewers, I see you and I love you! I am so thankful for all my readers, kudos-givers and subscribers. You guys inspire me to write more so I can get this out to you guys.
> 
> Enjoy the 2nd to last chapter everyone!

_“But I found my family. I found the right thing to do. I found the way home.” - Caroline B Cooney_

_Darcy_

Darcy makes her way through the crowd of celebrating agents until she came to Fury and Hill, standing next to each other, communicating by eyesight alone. Probably saying a very formal job well done to each other, either way they do deserve it. She steps in front of both of them and gets their attention; Fury is doing his smile/not smile thing but Hill actually looks mildly shocked. Now that the crisis is over Darcy realizes that she must look pretty gnarly right now. She hasn’t slept in 24 hours, she’s pretty sure she still has dried blood on her head, her hair is everywhere and she’s pretty sure she’s torn her pants and busted her knees to an ugly black bruise. She knew that when her mother finally saw her, she was going to have an absolute fit, Nicholas would probably have an even bigger one.

“Director Fury, Agent Hill, congrats on the whole saving the world thing and I know you’ve had to put up with my shit this entire time but I got to ask for one more favor.” She watches as both Fury and Hill exchange and look and they must both decide something in that moment because they both turn back to her with, what one could call serious friendly faces.

“At this point Lewis if you said you had plans for world peace, I’d follow your crazy ass to do it. What do you need?” Fury says and it looks like Darcy is just making all the super spy best friends today. 

“I don’t really know how SHIELD cleanup works since the only one I saw I barged right into, but I kind of need to get down to the city if that’s at all possible?” Darcy asks. She watches as Fury somehow stands up straighter than he already is and his hands go behind his back.

“Hill, I trust you can handle the start of the cleanup until we can get the rest of the organization down here. Get Lewis and some agents down there and I’ll stay here to land and take care of the pissed off council.” Fury orders. Hill actually smiles a little and it surprises Darcy to see the expression on the serious woman’s face.

“Happy to do it sir.” She says and nods for Darcy to follow her. She gives one more glance back at Fury, but the man is already turned around and ordering people to get back to work. She chuckles to herself and turns back around to catch up to Hill.

“Do you need to see a medic, Lewis?” Hill asks as they make their way down the hall and Darcy shakes her head.

“Whatever your guys do I can already tell Jane and probably Tony are going to insist that they get a second opinion.” Hill glances at her then nods her head.

“Good luck with that one, kid.” Hill almost jokingly says and Darcy lets out a tired laugh.

“Honestly, after all the shit I’ve been through in the past two months I think I can handle about 20 Jane and Tony Stark’s combined.”

Hill hid it well, but Darcy still swears she saw the woman hiding her grin of amusement.

Darcy quickly gets situated in the jet that Agent Hill guides her to, she straps in and settles down while Hill and a plethora of other agents slowly gather and file in. Darcy sighs and rests her eyes for a second with her trusty leather jacket in her lap. That’s when she feels the weight resting on her leg and remembers that her cellphone is in her jacket pocket. She had put it on do not disturb mode and then fully turned it off once they had made it to the Hellcarrier and hadn’t checked it since. She opens her eyes and looks at the lump in her jacket pocket with trepidation.

_If you can run from the Hulk and jump out of on fire helicopters then you can handle a few distraught voicemails._

Despite the logic in Darcy’s personal pep talk she still couldn’t make the dread in her stomach fully disappear as she slowly digs her phone out of her pocket and turns it on. It takes a second for the phone to fully turn on but then messages are rolling in and Darcy watches them climb. Five…. ten…. twelve from her mother and at least eight each from both her siblings, even Hannah, Nicholas’s girlfriend had tried to call her. The biggest surprise is Momo, who hates cellphones, only has one out of necessity and never uses it. Yet, theirs her name and about 25 texts, each more worrying then the last one, blinking in her text groups.

_Darcy please please call me_

_Darcy, where are you??!!!_

_Darcy mom is freaking out wtf is going on_

_Did you see the news?_

_Did you see New York?_

_Are you in New York?!!_

_I will call Tony Stark! I will find some way to call him and yell at him_

_Please just let me know you’re alive_

Each text rips at her heart a little more and she knows now that she’s going to have to tell her family something soon because this is just the beginning. She doesn’t even want to imagine their reactions when they find out she’s going to save a super assassin. She ignores all the voicemails that are probably just variations of crying and yelling, instead she calls her mom. She waits as the phone rings and can kind of sense her mom was waiting by her phone since it only rings fully once.

“Darcy?” Her mom sounds so full of hope that it makes Darcy feel so unbelievably guilty for putting her through all of this.

“Hey mom.” She says and takes a deep breath so she doesn’t join her mother in the hushed tears that she can hear over the phone.

“You are in so much trouble.” Her mom gets out and of all things it makes Darcy laugh.

“Yeah, I know.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

***

_Jane_

Jane had been told to sit down when she suggested dismantling the machine to make it unworkable for anyone in the future by beating the shit out of it. Natasha had sat her down and basically had Jane babysitting the staff while she and Erik slowly dismantled the machine and secured the tesseract. Jane huffs because no matter what Darcy assures her, SHIELD is always going to just rub her the wrong way. That may be mostly because it turns out she’s a grudge holder, and is still mad they tried to steal all her research about a month ago. She’s trying to get a better look at the stone without touching it -no thank you on that one – when Thor suddenly lands, causing Erik to practically leap off the roof in surprise.

“Jane!”

“Thor.”

Thor shouts in worry and Jane sighs in relief as they run to each other and meet in the middle of the roof, holding each other close. Jane is starting to realize that every time they separate their reunions tend to be dramatic. But as Jane holds Thor close, she feels her grip going tighter than before, she has seen and been in battle. She feels like her eyes are being opened for the first time and she knows what she wants and knows that sometimes you can’t have everything.

“I’m so glad your safe.” Thor mummers to her and Jane smiles as she leans away to look at him, this handsome man/god who gave her a glimpse of a world beyond anything she first thought, someone who owned up to his mistakes then stood in front of evil and said he would not move for it.

She wants Thor, she understands now why Darcy was willing to do all this, she had a glimpse of a love and life worth fighting for.

For a woman of science Jane has always followed her gut, when people told her to stop, she just went faster, for Darcy, and for her now, that means looking at the universe and time itself and telling it that it can try to catch her if it can. She needs to talks to Thor about them, to Tony and SHIELD to make a choice about her work and talk to Darcy about the next step. But that’s for later, for now she has a gorgeous demigod to kiss.

She wraps her arms around Thor’s neck and pulls him in.

***

_Darcy_

The jet almost doesn’t get clearance to land and ends up having to dock in Bryant Park, taking out a few trees along the way.

“We have to start securing perimeters and working with law enforcements, you’re about five or so blocks from the tower. Can you walk from here?” Agent Hill asks her and Darcy eagerly nods as she shimmies out of the seat’s belts.

“Keep the coat on and say for people to check any clearance with me.” Hill informs her and Darcy nods again as she practically tries to sprint down the block towards the semi destroyed Stark Tower. She’s about halfway down the block when she looks up ad instantly stops running. Up ahead stands the tower with just the lone A left standing. Darcy knows what that A grows to be and she can’t help but feel the pride swell in her chest because she’s starting to realize she is now a part of that A.

She starts to jog again, avoiding the desolation of the battle, there will be time to take it all in and help however she can. For right now she just wants to be happy, hug Jane and Tony and Bruce and Pepper, heck everyone’s getting a hug even Natasha if she can get one in.

She manages to avoid running into any trouble as the check points are just being set up as she makes her way to the tower. When she gets to the tower lobby, security is in the middle of clearing out the building. One of the guards comes up to her looking stern and official.

“I’m sorry Miss but no one is allowed access to the tower at the moment, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” He’s already gesturing with his hand for her to turn around before Darcy can say anything.

“Look, I know this is going to sound fake as all hell but I know Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, I’ve been here before.” Darcy says and can tell by the guard’s face that he’s not believing a word she’s saying. But apparently Tony had been thinking ten steps ahead of everyone because Jarvis picks that moment to chime in.

“Ms. Lewis is correct, Mr. Curtis; Ms. Lewis is cleared to access any and all floors of the tower.” Darcy smiles towards the ceiling and gives it a wink as if it’s an actual person in the ceiling.

The guard gives her a confused look and eyes her SHIELD jacket before sighing and letting her pass. Poor guy, this is not what he thought was going to happen when he came in for work today. Darcy gives him what she hopes is a kind smile before she makes her way over to the elevators. She enters and moves nervously from foot to foot as the elevator made its way through the floors. She was still a bit nervous and wasn’t going to fully relax until she saw all the avengers in front of her and in more or less one piece.

That is what she sees when she reaches the top floor and the doors open, more or less. What she sees is the Avengers standing as a team with Clint on his knees with an arrow in the face of Loki, who is looking a little worse for wear.

“If it’s all the same to you, I’ll have that drink now.” Loki says and the Hulk growls in return. Darcy just watches as Clint keeps his arrow trained on Loki while Thor steps up and grabs his brother before putting the hammer on his chest. Darcy watches as Thor pauses for a second before he lets go of it, as if to make sure that the hammer won’t crush Loki, even now Thor still cares for his brother.

“Darcy?”

Darcy looks over to see Jane and Erik, standing a few feet behind the avengers and Loki. Darcy smiles and opens her arms when Jane comes rushing over to her. The tiny woman holds her close and Darcy looks over her shoulder to see everyone still standing and very much alive. Darcy lets out a breath that holds the last bit of anxiety she has and hides for a moment in Jane’s shoulder. Then she’s yanking her friend away so she can look at her and give her a stern look.

“What the hell were you doing woman? Going to the ground during an alien invasion?! You may be a smaller target then most but that still makes you a target.” Darcy is totally joking now and her grin finally breaks through when Jane rolls her eyes. She pulls Jane back in for another quick hug before making her way over to Erik.

“Feeling better?” She asks, all Erik can do is nod right now. He still looks confused and pained, but he’s a civilian that was just brainwashed into a science puppet so honestly the fact that he’s still conscious right now is good enough for Darcy. She then turns around towards the Avengers.

“Alright, sound off. Who’s not dead?” Darcy says and is greeted with confused looks except from Clint and Natasha, clearly their kids have good taste in movies if they got the reference. She goes to each of them and either pats them on the back or wraps them in a hug, her and Tony have one awkward moment where she goes for a hug and he goes for a hi five and then a second later they switch, they settle for a fist bump.

“You gave Pepper a panic attack.” Darcy says and Tony just sighs and nods.

“Yeah, probably going to give her more of those, kind of comes with the relationship.” Tony says and makes Darcy laugh.

“When will SHIELD come to secure my brother?” Thor steps up and asks and Darcy turns to him and blinks for a second.

“Oh yeah, they landed with me. I got a ride from Agent Hill and they’re making their way through the streets right now. They should get here soonish so I don’t really think we’re supposed to go anywhere yet.” Darcy explains. Clint nods as he puts down his bow and quiver with care before heading towards the fully stocked and still intact bar.

“Great, because I’m definitely enjoying the liquor here, Stark, what’s the most expensive thing?” Clint asks as he walks towards the bar and just like that Tony is moving over to him. He does turn around and points a finger at Darcy.

“You’re not drinking.”

“Oh, come on!”

“Sorry, don’t care I actually want to meet my sister before I get in trouble with her.”

Darcy snorts and shakes her head.

“Call Pepper so she doesn’t die of stress.” She tells him and Tony gives her a thumbs up before turning back around and ordering Clint to put the bottle of whisky down. Darcy eyes Loki one more time, he is looking rather grumpy with being stuck under the hammer. She makes her way to the step near the edge of the room and sits down on it with a sigh, Jane joins her a second later and puts her hand over Darcy’s eyes. Darcy fidgets and moves her hand away.

“Jane what the fuck?”

“Dr. Banner is back, and I’m guessing you don’t want to see your mother[‘s maybe future boyfriend without clothes.” Jane says as she pointedly looks away herself. Darcy blinks and starts to turn her head but she sees one glimpse of ungreen skin and slaps her hands over her eyes.

“Good call Jane, you must be a genius or something.” Darcy jokes and she hears Jane sigh. 

***

SHIELD eventually makes their way into the tower led by Maria Hill and allows Thor to take the hammer off Loki so they can secure cuffs around the trickster god. They take the staff out of Natasha’s hands and escort Erik to a doctor to have his head checked out for any lasting damages. Clint manages to wave the agents off with Natasha promising he’ll get checked out later. Agent Hill then approaches Darcy, handing her a pile of files.

“Director Fury wants you to debrief the team.”

Darcy looks down at the files and then back up at Hill.

“I didn’t realize accepting the jacket was a job offer, I haven’t even graduated yet.”

“Which is why this position is on a trial basis and is technically not affiliated with SHIELD. Director Fury wants you and Dr. Foster to act as liaison between the Avengers team and SHIELD. With help from Pepper Potts if she agrees.” Hill explains and Darcy is speechless for a second because honestly, that’s perfect! She feels like a weight has been lifted off her chest, she now has even more backup, the backup of an entire organization – at least for a little while – to help her with the plan.

“Cool, I’ll get right on that, once I figure out how the hell to contact Fury.”

“Get the reports to Rogers, he’ll get them back to us.” Hill says and walks off. Darcy takes a peek through the files and sees it’s notes, notes that Coulson and Pepper took that day at the temporary New Mexico base. About Steve and Bruce, what was coming next and what to do to keep them on the right path. Darcy took a deep breath when she found one file that was about the fall of SHIELD, she could see why Fury wanted to keep these in written form, if Tony could hack them then anyone could. She looks back up at the team and decides she can stay a bit longer, after all her mother is still probably working on how to ground her so she can lock her up in a plastic bubble.

“Hey, just need to get you guys all here for two seconds. Gotta make sure we’re all on the same page.” Darcy says as she approaches where all the Avengers are hanging out around the bar, including Bruce who’s now chugging what is his second cup of coffee.

“Are you an agent now? that’s not how we roll Lewis.” Tony says and Darcy just shakes her head, keeping the files close to her.

“More like a liaison between you guys and SHIELD, probably so they don’t have to deal with you 24/7.” Darcy says sarcastically to Tony. He pretends to look insulted but she knows he’s proud she wields her sarcasm well.

“Loki and the tesseract will return with me to asgard so that he may face the judgement of his people.” Thor states. “But I will return.” He says assuredly as he turns to Jane. Darcy nods.

“Pretty sure SHIELD can arrange to make that happen, I’ll see if Selvig can help with that. Tony I’m guessing when Pepper stops screaming at you that you two will stay here to rebuild and Strike Team Badass over here are technically still agents and have jobs.” All three of them nodded with an eyeroll from Tony.

“I’m not sure what to do.” Steve says and Darcy looks over to him to see that the man looks lost for the first time since she’s met him. His mission is done, he has nothing to distract from the fact that he’s 70 years in the future.

“I mean, you should check out Brooklyn, reacquaint yourself with the big apple, and SHIELD has a branch in DC, you can check that out, I hear the Smithsonian wants to do a Captain America exhibit.” Darcy tries to sound excited about the prospect but Steve actually looks horrified at the words Captain America exhibit, oh well he can angst about it and be humble later. She turns to Jane and Bruce.

“Stark offered lab space, honestly it would be fun to have actual funding for my projects and to rub it in the face of the science community.” Jane smirks a little.

“I heard that Foster.” Tony cheers and they both clink glasses.

Bruce is silent for a minute and Darcy gives him the time to think.

“Like Dr. Foster said, Tony offered lab space….and it would be good to not have to run for a while.” Bruce says looking up and smiling slightly. Tony comes over to pat Bruce on the shoulder.

“We’re going to turn that in a while to a permanent stay just you watch buddy.”

Tony has an overzealous smile and Bruce looks amused; Darcy hides her smile as best as she can. Whatever plans Tony has to make Bruce stay Darcy can bet that hers is better.

“Okay so debrief over? Because I still want to go try that Shawarma.”

***

Darcy is very surprised that the place Tony was talking about was still standing, and was even more surprised when the owners let them in and happily started frying up food.

“For the heroes of New York, you eat for free.” The owner smiles big at them as he ties on his apron. Tony stuff a hundred-dollar bill in the tip jar and then collapses in a chair, everybody follows, crowding around the table in the small and slightly busted up restaurant.

Soon they have baskets of smoking meats and pita filled food, it all smells mouthwatering and Darcy indulges in her first few bites, absolutely not aware of any noises she may or may not be making. Once she gets through her first basket of food, she looks up to see the various states of other people at the table.

Steve polishes off four baskets in ten minutes and then promptly falls asleep with his head leaning on his fist. Thor is still chowing down, probably going to eat twenty of everything. Jane is next to Thor and leaning against him while she slowly makes her way through her food. Darcy looks on her other side to see Tony had put down his food and is caught in a thousand-yard stare, probably finally realizing he almost died, she hooks her foot around his making the man jump. He looks over at her and takes in their surroundings before looking at Darcy again and subtly nodding in thanks. She smiles and looks over at Bruce who is also stuffing his face and looks like he’s holding back laughter, probably more gallows humor. Then there is Strike Team Badass, aka 2/3 of the hottest and most badass throuple in the world. Clint has his leg propped up in Natasha’s lap, probably from going through a fucking window and Natasha occasionally rubs and massages it while she too picks at her food, she swears Natasha and Jane are descended from birds somehow.

She then feels someone hook their ankle with theirs and turns to see Tony giving her the same look she just gave him, Darcy looks at this man and, in that moment, realizes that she’s going to save him and not just for Pepper or Morgan or Peter. But for herself, and for him, he doesn’t deserve to be alone anymore and she swears when Momo gets a look at him she’s going to ask for Tony’s deceased mothers blessing and then totally adopt him.

The thought makes her smirk at him and he raises his eyebrow in question at her but she just shakes her head before reaching for more food, he’ll find out soon enough.

***

They finish eating and Tony stuffs a few more hundred-dollar bills in the tip jar before they say their goodbyes to the owners and start making their way back to the tower. They have all silently agreed to find the nearest hot shower and flop into the closest bed and all sleep for like ten hours, or in Tony’s case like five.

As soon as they all enter the lobby of Stark tower, they hear someone yell Tony’s name. Then Pepper Potts is running across the lobby barefoot, having ditched her heels a while ago and flinging herself right into Tony’s arms. When she starts crying, they all decide to give the two space and slowly start to walk towards the elevators, trusting Jarvis to get them to showers and beds.

“Darcy wait.” Pepper gets out and Darcy turns to see the woman trying to dry her tears as Tony holds her close to him. Darcy turns and waves off Jane and the others to get into the elevators as she walks over to the pair.

“Hi.” Pepper says happily and wraps her arms around Darcy which Darcy quickly reciprocates.

“Okay, great tender moment, amazing that you two are supposedly friends but would anyone like to let me in on the big secret? “Tony asks. Pepper and Darcy separate and give Tony a surprised look. Tony keeps Pepper close but crosses his arms.

“Look, I may be stupidly heroic and not think through all my actions but I know you Pep, you don’t get close to people unless there’s a good reason for it. You couldn’t have warmed up to the idea of me having a half-sister that fast so how about we put our cards on the table because for once in my life I actually want to sleep.” Tony waits while Pepper and Darcy exchange a glance. Pepper gives her a pleading look and Darcy knows Pepper wanted to avoid the extremis situation more than anything, letting Tony in could do that. Darcy sighs because honestly? Having Tony Stark helping her couldn’t make anything worse than it already is.

“Is there a room we could go to that Jarvis could soundproof? We can’t let anyone else hear this. And we gotta do it as quick as we can because I’m with Tony, I’m about to drop.” Darcy asks. Tony looks back and forth between the two of them before finally nodding in consent and leading them to the elevators.

“Honestly at this point if this secret isn’t mind blowing, I’m going to feel strung along.” Tony quips, Darcy and Pepper just exchange a look, whatever Tony’s thinking they know it’s miniscule compared to the truth.

***

One hour later Tony was doing a really impressive imitation of a fish, his mouth open in pure amazement.

“Time travel.” Tony says clearly excited. Darcy looks over to Pepper to see the woman just nodding, apparently Tony is still going through shock.

“And Morgan and holy shit, I step in for the kid? Jesus Christ.” Tony goes through all the happy moment, so Darcy continues to wait as Tony runs out of happy things. She watches his face slowly fall.

“But…. how…I…. I’m gone.” Tony seems to arrive at the end as he looks back up at Pepper and the woman nods at him with her eyes shining.

“But we’re not going to let that happen, Darcy came back so we could fix that.” Pepper says making Tony look over at Darcy.

“That means saving Barnes.” Tony says.

Darcy winces but rapidly shakes her head.

“Yes, but that also means saving Natasha and Bruce and-”

“And Barnes.” Tony’s words drop like stones

“Yeah…and Bucky.” Darcy says quietly. She knows it was a risk telling Tony what had happened to his parents, he had left the room for a half hour with Pepper eventually going after him and bringing him back. Darcy tried to make it better by telling him about the lake house and his kids that happily run ramped around it. She should have known he wouldn’t be okay with it.

“Bucky’s like the Hulk, he can’t control it and he is fighting. The only difference is he doesn’t get a break.” Tony looks at Darcy almost betrayed so she goes on. “I’m not taking sides here; I wasn’t their when it happened or when you found out. Tony, I just met you but I care about you. But I also care about Bucky and not repeating what you both went through.” Darcy says and Tony looks at her then exhales roughly as he rubs his face.

“Tony.” Pepper softly says and Tony looks up at her. “You need help, not just Darcy and I. You need to let people in, you need to talk to someone or you won’t survive.” Pepper is begging him. Tony holds his breath for a second, staring at Pepper and then Darcy, before letting the breath out.

“Okay.”

Darcy is on him and hugging the life out of him in seconds. It takes a minute but eventually and awkwardly Tony puts his arms around her. They separate and Tony takes Pepper’s hand in his.

“I don’t think I can be around Cap right now, I’m gonna blurt it out or want to punch him in leu of Barnes.” Tony says and Darcy nods.

“You just have to keep it together for tomorrow, once Thor and Loki go back to Asgard then Steve is off, he has to head to DC anyways. Then Clint and I will find the footage, we’ll find some way to make it viewable to everyone and you can work this out I promise.” Darcy says. Tony looks at in wonder.

“I don’t know who you’re trying to protect here.”

“Honestly at this point it would be great if you both could be happy in the future.”

Tony chuckles.

“Your too good kid.”

“Yeah, well wait until you meet…oh shit.” Darcy says as she remembers that she has to find her way out of New York City.

“What’s wrong?” Pepper asks. Darcy sighs as she digs her phone out of her pocket and starts to text her mom.

“My mom, I promised her I would get home but even with Fury’s help it’s going to be hard to get me out of the city and to Pennsylvania.”

“I mean…. she could come here.”

Darcy stops typing and slowly looks up at Tony, Pepper looks a little gob smacked as well. Tony looks back and forth and shrugs.

“Fury and I could get her here way easier than you just trying to get out.”

“Aren’t you emotionally compromised and scared shitless?” Darcy asks and Tony snorts.

“Yes, to both of those things but I mean I’ve grown attached to you now kid so I figure let’s just get it over with.” Tony then shrugs. Both of them stay quiet until Tony scoffs and rolls his eyes.

“Fine. I am also using one emotionally distressing thing to deal with another, I know, I know I’m full of bad coping mechanisms.” Darcy lets out a chuckle and Pepper good naturedly rolls her eyes.

“But seriously, it would give me something else to focus on and this way Bruce could meet her again.” Tony says with a wiggle of his eyebrows making Darcy grin.

“You’re going to help me parent trap them Uncle Tony?” Darcy asks and Tony’s smirk grows.

“I have ulterior motives, if Bruce is my brother in law then I can force him to stay put.”

Darcy laughs and Pepper has had enough of both of them as she gets them both up and orders them to get some sleep, Darcy graciously accepts.

***

“Where are the Avengers?”

“I’m not currently tracking their whereabouts. I’d say they’ve earned a leave of absence.

***

The next day Holly Lewis is being picked up by one of Tony Stark’s private planes and Darcy is in the backseat of a car with the superspies driving to central park. Honestly, after going through time travel nothing really shocks her anymore.

They park on the Bethesda terrace and Darcy looks out to see the others gathering to see the two gods off. She gets out and walks over to Jane who gladly takes her hand, theirs worry in the scientist’s eyes and Darcy can tell it’s going to be a while before Jane fully believes that Thor isn’t going to disappear on her. They stand on the edges of the group as they watch Erik and Bruce load up the tesseract in it’s teleporting contraption. It’s handed to Thor and with one last look at Jane, Thor faces Loki and holds out the tesseract.

Loki hesitates for a second but eventually grabs it and the two brothers are whisked away in bright beams of blue light. Everyone stands there for a second, looking into a now empty sky. Darcy takes a deep breath and let’s go of Jane’s hand so her and Erik can have their goodbyes. Darcy goes over and hugs Clint, who ruffles her hair.

“I expect to see you soon Lewis.” Clint says and Darcy is taking that as his unofficial invite to the farm.

“Clint told me he was training you; I’m going to have to fix that.” Natasha pipes in and Darcy feels her eyes go wide as Clint grins.

“I am both terrified and excited.” Darcy jokes and Natasha smirks at her. With one last nod the agents are off and Darcy turns when she hears a motorcycle engine fire up. Steve nods his head and Darcy give him a salute, he rides off smiling. Darcy looks after him and sighs, he’s sad now but she knows soon he’ll have Sam and Sharon and even Bucky, he just has to wait.

“So, Foster, Banner, Lewis ready to science the shit out of a few things?” Tony asks. Bruce looks wary but Jane smirks before linking her arm with Darcy’s.

“Rain check on that, Darcy and I need a few hours of normal before jumping back int your world Stark.” Jane says. Tony points at her.

“You’re going to be my friend Foster, the four of us are going to be a gang, a science gang.”

Bruce rolls his eyes and pats Tony’s back so he’ll start moving over to his car.

“See you later.” Darcy says. Bruce waves but Tony turns around and gives her four fingers. Holly Lewis will touch down in NYC in four hours. She grins as Jane pulls her on.

“I want the biggest cup of coffee I can get and to know why you and Stark are acting so smug.” Jane asks

“My mom’s coming and Bruce doesn’t know.”

Jane stops walking and her eyes get big before a brilliant grin breaks out on her face.

“Oh my god!” Jane excitedly almost squeals and it was the first semi squeal Darcy had ever heard out of the woman. What else can she do but laugh.

***

Turns out it’s harder to get back into New York City even with the help of Tony Stark because Darcy doesn’t get the text from Holly until around seven at night. When her mom’s name pops up on her phone Darcy reads the text then turns to Jane. She actually has to end up throwing a bit of granola at her to get her full attention.

When she does it only takes Darcy showing Jane the name on her phone to turn Jane’s annoyed expression into an excited one.

“Distract them and then take Bruce to get tea or something in like ten minutes.” Darcy whispers to her. Jane nods, her eyes already trained on the two men as she puts their plan into action. Darcy quickly makes her way out of the lab and towards the elevator.

“Hey Jarvis.” Darcy says still delighted by the aspect of the robot butler.

“Yes Ms. Lewis.”

“Can you make sure no one bugs my mom in the lobby?”

“I have already informed security of your mother’s coming and she is waiting for you outside the elevator.” Jarvis says and then the elevator stops and the doors open, and there is Holly Lewis. Darcy never thought she has ever missed her mom more than she did during this crazy ride.

“Mom.” Darcy says, sounding slightly chocked up as she dives into her mother’s arms. She squeezes her tight, sinking into her and smelling the scents that are distinctly her mom. Her vanilla perfume and the laundry detergent from her clothes.

“Oh, thank god Darcy.” Her mother breaths out in relief and hugs her tight, running her fingers through Darcy’s unruly waves. Darcy needs this moment as much as her mom does, she doesn’t rush the hug but instead gets lost in the warmth of it. Eventually though, mother and daughter separate and Holly cradles her eldest daughters face for a second. She sighs happily and Darcy pretends that they both don’t have tears in their eyes.

“Okay, okay. One emotional moment at a time. Let’s go meet my brother.” Holly actually lets out a laugh. “I don’t think that will stop being weird for a while.”

“Wait until you meet Jarvis.” Darcy says with a smile as her mother’s brow crinkles.

“Jarvis?”

“Good to meet you Mrs. Lewis.” Jarvis says from the ceiling causing Holly to jump and Darcy to laugh.

“Yeah, this is going to be fun.”

Holly lets out an indignant huff and follows her daughter into the elevator. Darcy watches, as the elevator goes up her mother seems to get more nervous. She reaches over and takes her mother’s hand in hers.

“I wouldn’t let you near the guy if I didn’t think this was going to turn out well.” Darcy tries to reassure her mother. Holly smiles and looks over at her.

“When did you become such an adult?” She asks with love in her tone. Darcy bites her lip and looks ahead.

_About the same time, I realized I have the fate of the world’s greatest heroes in my hands._

The elevator lands on the lab floor and the doors open, Darcy looks at her mother who looks straight ahead. Darcy waits a few seconds then squeezes her mom’s hand again and starts guiding her towards the lab. As they get closer, they hear tinkering and banging as well as Tony muttering. Holly’s grip gets tighter but her steps get faster and suddenly their standing in the lab doorway and Tony’s back is to the both of them.

“Sir.” Jarvis chimes and Tony’s already grumbling while throwing a dismissive hand in the air.

“Yeah, okay Jarvis I’ll take shower so I look presentable, jeez.”

Tony turns around and once he sees Holly the smirk falls off his face.

The two half-siblings just stare at each other and Darcy looks between them.

Their eyes are exactly the same, their faces are more or less the same shape and it almost makes Darcy laugh to admit that their eyebrows are the same. Besides that, Tony’s tan complexion is much darker compared to Holly’s pale one, and while Holly is wearing a pretty blue button down, Tony is still currently wiping grime off his hands and onto one of his million old concert t-shirts.

Neither one is saying anything and Darcy knows they only have a limited time until Jane and Bruce come back so she steps in between the two and holds her hands out.

“Mom meet Uncle, Uncle meet mom, AKA Howard Stark can’t keep it in his pants.”

Holly’s eyes go wide and she tries to stop a grin but Tony full on laughs and this seems to ease the air around all of them. Holly smiles almost shyly and takes the few remaining steps to Tony while holding out her hand.

“Hi Tony, I’m Holly. I’m extremely nervous to meet you.” She says. Tony grins and meets her hand with his own.

“Feelings mutual. Sorry my dad was such a manwhore.”

Holly’s mouth opens in surprise again but then she lets out a peal of laughter as she lets go of Tony’s hand.

“It’s all right, my dad… he turned out to be pretty great.” A fond smile of remembrance makes its way onto her face.

“Well then you’re already doing better than me.” Tony teases. Holly looks at him and slowly one eyebrow goes up and a challenging smile flits across her face.

“Well, I am the older sister. Gotta stay ahead of the little brother.”

Darcy covers her mouth to try to contain her giggle

“Ah, why don’t we try younger brother?”

“Sorry, I missed years of annoying you, I got to catch up.”

Darcy is still holding in her laughter as Tony turns to her looking betrayed.

“You told her.”

That’s when Darcy and Holly fully lose it, both of them going into peals of loud laughter. With Tony lamenting about how he was betrayed by his own blood.

That is the moment that Jane and Bruce walk back into the lab. Bruce gets one look at Holly and drops his mug of tea, it falls to the floor and shatters, gaining the attention of everyone in the room.

“Bruce?” Holly says in wonder as Bruce just stares back at Holly in shock. No one moves for a few minutes as the two old lovebirds continue to stare at each other. Darcy finally looks at Tony and Jane but both adults just shrug.

_Do I have to do everything?_

Darcy suppresses a sigh and takes one step closer to her mother so she can nudge her forward. Holly is so surprised at the sight of Bruce that she trips a little and shoots a look Darcy’s way, she just shrugs and points to Bruce. Holly shoots her another look but then she looks back at Bruce and a pure smile of happiness forms. She starts to walk towards him and for once Bruce doesn’t step back.

“Bruce. It’s you. I can’t believe I’m seeing you right now, I mean I knew you were safe because of what I saw on the news but- I mean I just wondered. I mean nothing was reported…”

Her mother was babbling, her mother has never babbled once since Darcy had memories of her. Holly stands their babbling and Bruce stands there, his smile slowly growing as Holly goes on.

The whole point is they both look happy, honestly the two probably had the same dumb struck expression on their faces that they had decades ago in that high school library.

She sees Tony moving closer to her out of the corner of her eye. He stands beside her and crosses his arms, looking just as amused as she is by the sight before him. He finally meets Darcy’s gaze and nudges her side.

“This is going to be more fun then I first thought.”

***

“I don’t think you understand what you’ve started, letting the Avengers loose on this world. They’re dangerous”

“They surely are, and the whole world knows it. Every world knows it.”

“Was that the point of all this? A statement?”

“A promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All we have is an epilogue left and I've already am working on the next two parts of this series! I'll tell you guys more about it at the end of the epilogue but the story is moving along.


	11. Just Haven't Met You Yet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is the epilogue, Part 1 is done! I am both elated and sad, I never thought the fic would grow this big this fast or get the attention it did. I am very happy over both things and cannot wait to continue!
> 
> So what we have coming up next is a One Shot focusing on the summer after the Battle of New York, with Tony and Bruce getting to know the Lewis family. 
> 
> Then after that the next story will include both Iron Man 3 and Thor: Dark World, which will happen at the same time so changes will be made. The story will also include Captain America: Winter Soldier and you all know what that means.....
> 
> Bucky Barnes is re-entering the fic!

_“The thing about love was that it caught you unawares, turned up in the most unexpected places, even when you weren’t looking for it.” – Sarra Manning_

_Darcy_

Two weeks later and Darcy finds the nightmares fading away and she was jumping less at random sounds. Her mother was so worried, she wouldn’t let Darcy stay in New York with Jane at the tower. She had to come home and although she would never admit it to her mother’s face, the week and a half at home was great. It made everything seem real, she slept in her own bed and woke up to Maggie and Mom making blueberry pancakes. She almost didn’t want to leave, but when her mother started to talk to Maggie and Nicholas about if and/or when they wanted to meet Tony, Darcy was reminded she had some work to do if she wanted the next few years to go smoothly. One of those things meant pulling a fast one over Fury and she knew he wasn’t going to appreciate it.

So, that morning she had gotten her orange hatchback out of the garage and sent a text to Steve Rogers that he was going to be getting a welcoming party of one at his new place. If her texting Captain America wasn’t the weirdest thing ever then him texting back in proper grammar and everything took the cake.

About halfway to DC her phone rang and she glances down to see Maggie trying to call her. She hits the Bluetooth and picks up the phone.

“What’s up Magpie?” Darcy basically yells towards the Bluetooth.

“Hey, where are you?” Maggie asks. Darcy checks her map but can’t pinpoint her exact location.

“Halfway between Pennsylvania and DC. Why?”

Maggie pauses.

“Why are you going to DC?”

“To visit a friend from Culver.” Darcy’s ability to lie is becoming better by the day, she doesn’t even have to think before the lie falls out of her mouth.

“Oh, okay.” Maggie doesn’t say anything else for a few seconds and Darcy waits.

“I just thought you had run away to see Tony Stark again.”

That surprises Darcy, so much that she doesn’t know what to say next.

“I…I thought you were cool with the whole Tony Stark thing?”

“I don’t know Darcy; I mean he’s a stranger.”

Darcy actually snorts.

“Okay, weak excuse, you probably got it from Nick. I know you better than that Maggie, what’s really wrong?”

A heavy sigh is heard.

“I just…mom can’t get close and lose someone else, she’s already so happy to be around Tony Stark and Bruce Banner but they’re superheroes! They could die at any time; mom can’t lose another person…. I don’t want to either.” Maggie finishes and Darcy feels like someone just punched her in the chest, she wants to drive back home and wrap her little sister in a hug.

“Maggie…” Darcy pauses as she thinks about how to phrase this without giving everything away. She knows if her sister just meets Pepper and Tony, she would get alone with both of them like a house on fire.

“What if I could tell you that I could like…guarantee that you wouldn’t lose more family?”

“Does this have to do with your secret.”

Darcy’s heart stops.

“What- I-”

“I knew it! I knew you were hiding something! God, you swore on Dad that you wouldn’t lie!” Maggie sounds so upset and Darcy curses under her breath as she pulls over to the side of the road. She turns off Bluetooth and grabs her phone.

“Maggie-”

“We don’t keep secrets Darcy how can I trust you?”

“Mag-”

“I thought I lost you! You wouldn’t pick up your phone and then suddenly Tony stark sends a plane for mom and she comes back talking to her fucking high school sweetheart that’s the Hulk?! How am I expected to take any of this?”

“THOR LANDED IN NEW MEXICO AND I TAZED HIM!” Darcy screams as loud as she can and all she hears for a second is silence. She’s scared that Maggie hung up but she suddenly hears her sisters deep breathing.

“I was helping Jane and it turns out her research led us to the portal of the freaking Norse gods. I tazed him, we ended up helping him hide and defeat his psycho brother and then SHIELD found out about Tony Stark and I went to meet Pepper Potts. I was in New York but I couldn’t help it! I can’t legally tell you these things and there are other things that I’m worried if I tell you I’ll fuck everything up and it freaks me out! I need you Maggie, I’m sorry I lied but it was to keep you and other people safe.” Darcy takes a deep breath and waits for her sister to answer. She knows she can’t lose Maggie, she’s willing to do a lot to save the world and the avengers but losing Maggie is not an option.

“Darcy what have you got mixed up into?” Maggie finally asks and the concern in her voice practically makes Darcy weep in joy, her sister still cares.

“Something that even if I wanted to, I couldn’t get out of, I can’t tell you right now but I promise, when I can I will tell you. Trust me Maggie, if I could have you in this then I would tell you everything right now but I just can’t.” Darcy waits and is rewarded a few minutes later when Maggie lets out a sigh.

“Darcy I am not okay with this and we are going to have to talk about a lot of things when you get back. I can’t just keep waiting by my phone hoping you’re not dead.” Maggie sounds sad and serious at the same time and Darcy understands that her sister is being serious with this matter.

“I get it, I never meant to make you feel like that Maggie but once I tell you I think you’ll get it.”

“I hope so Darcy because I’ve invested too much time into this Irish twin’s thing, I don’t know where I can get another one.” Maggie jokes and Darcy revels in the laugh she lets out.

“You better not replace me!”

“Don’t give me a reason too and I won’t”

It’s all said in good humor but Darcy knows not everything is solved, her worlds are colliding and at some point, she’s going to have to stand back and watch them smash together.

***

It was still pretty early by the time Darcy gets to DC; she entirely blames Clint Barton for getting use to waking up at the crack of dawn.

He would probably be proud of himself.

She manages to snag a pretty good parking space right near the national monuments walk. She gets out of the car and took out her housewarming present for Steve, she figures even someone as busy as Captain America can’t kill a succulent plant. She starts walking down the street towards Steve’s apartment when she happens upon a guy who seems to just be finishing his morning jog. Darcy glances at him and ends up double taking while forcing her feet to keep moving.

Sam Wilson was right across the street!

She has to keep herself from staring and just keep walking, it was a good year and a half before Steve and Sam even meet. She faces forward and continues to walk down the street, when she finally looks back Sam is gone.

“That’s gonna be a funny story to tell him one day.” Darcy mutters and she keeps walking.

***

Turns out Steve Rogers chose a 4th flour walk up in an old apartment building; she should have seen that one coming. Lucky for her she hadn’t gone crazy on the house warming present, Darcy didn’t want to imagine what it would be like to carry a ficus up four flights of stairs in no air conditioning.

She gets to the top and sees that Steve is out in the hallway in just a t-shirt and jeans, he honestly looks like every other millennial moving into their first place.

“Steve Rogers!” Darcy says enthusiastically. He looks up and gives her a smile.

“Ms. Lewis.” He greets, Darcy shakes her head and walks towards him. She puts the succulent in his hands and picks up a random box.

“None of this Ms. Lewis nonsense, we’ve been through an alien invasion together, you can call me Darcy.”

Steve chuckles as he follows her into his place while staring at the succulent oddly.

“If you insist.”

“I do.”

Darcy puts down the box and walks out into the hall for another one.

“I appreciate this Darcy but you didn’t need to come all this way just to help me unload boxes.” Steve calls to her.

“I’m heading to visit some friends and you were on the way, just wanted to check on you. I mean you’ve only been unfrozen like two months.” Darcy sets the second box down and turns to see Steve looking around the small apartment while balancing four boxes in his arms.

“Only two months? Feels like longer.” He says in a sad tone, Darcy grimaces a little, feeling the awkwardness to this conversation and decides to skip it. She pats Steve’s arm and heads out into the hall for another box.

“By the way I thought you had no stuff. Where did all this come from?”

“The internet is a very confusing but wonderful thing.” Steve calls and Darcy laughs.

She hears a noise behind her and Darcy turns to see the pretty blonde curls of Sharon Carter climbing up the stairs. Darcy smiles, she wasn’t allowed to meddle with Sam yet but Sharon Carter, she was free game. She drops the box she was holding and makes a beeline for the undercover agent. Carter definitely already knows that Darcy is coming towards her but was probably hoping to just ignore her, Darcy has siblings; she can’t be ignored.

“Sharon Carter.” Darcy says, not too loud but loud enough that it halts Sharon’s movements and makes the woman turn around. She keeps a good poker face for a few minutes until she sees that Steve Rogers isn’t following behind her. She then sighs and turns to fully face Darcy.

“Darcy Lewis, I presume?” Darcy nods. “I was briefed on you.”

“How briefed?” Darcy asks and watches as Sharon looks at her questioningly.

“T-Hop.” Is all Sharon says and Darcy takes a step back in surprise before letting out a huff.

“Okay, if I can’t tell my family yet then Fury doesn’t just get to tell whoever he wants. He will be getting a very annoyed phone call from me.”

Sharon doesn’t laugh or really react, just keeps staring at her questioningly.

“Mind telling me why you are potentially blowing my OP?” Sharon asks and Darcy nods and turns back towards Steve’s door.

“Hey Steve! Come meet Sharon!” As soon as Darcy finishes calling him, she feels her shoulder being gripped and Sharon yanks her back to face her. She looks mad!

“What are you doing!?”

“Just wait and get ready to explain quickly because a mad Steve Rogers is tricky.”

Sharon’s gaze snaps over Darcy’s head and Darcy knows that Steve Rogers has arrived.

_Showtime!_

Darcy turns to see Steve Rogers confused face looking between her and Sharon.

“Darcy how do you know my neighbor?”

Darcy gives one more glance to Sharon who looks like she’s about to beg her not to do this but Darcy knows she’s doing this for the greater good.

“Steve Rogers meet Sharon Carter; she works for SHIELD.” Darcy slides out from between them so the two blondes could see each other and she waits. Sharon Carter keeps a neutral face while Steve Rogers takes a journey through his emotions. He goes from shock to confusion, from wonder to anger and soon ends where Sharon was, passible neutrality.

“Fury sent someone to spy on me?” Steve asks and Sharon shoots Darcy a quick look which Darcy responds to with a thumbs up. Sharon looks so baffled for a second that Darcy almost starts to laugh.

“My orders were to keep my distance and be backup if needed.” Sharon says turning back to Steve. He crosses his arms and looks like he doesn’t believe a word coming out of her mouth.

“And if you see anything that SHIELD might find interesting you report it to Fury I’m guessing?” Steve says condescendingly. Sharon’s eyes narrow and she stands up straighter, Darcy pauses for a second as she thinks how this would go. The two of them would go toe to toe, it would involve a lot of screaming, attract some attention and will either result in one of them storming off or both of them making out. Honestly from the tension in the air Darcy isn’t sure which one it is yet. So, Darcy makes an executive decision and steps closer to the two of them.

“Um.” She starts and gains both of their attentions quickly, the heat and power of their gaze instantly snapping to her and causing Darcy to raise her hands up in a defensive position.

“So, my plan here was to introduce you two and then maybe convince you two to work together.” She starts, their gazes don’t change. “Look, Fury pissed you both off by doing this, Steve doesn’t want to be watched and Sharon only took it because she thinks she’s the only one who could do it right. Am I getting close?”

“How do you know so much about her? Do you actually know each other?” Steve asks voice still full of annoyance and anger.

Darcy looks over at Sharon but the agent just crosses her arms and gives her a look that Darcy can interpret; you got yourself and me into this mess, you can dig us out yourself.

“I was spending time with Tony and he was hacking SHIELD files, I read all about you, also you two grew up together.” Darcy says, turning to Sharon who finally drops her arms and pinches her brow.

“Goddamn it Tony.” Sharon mutters.

“Wait, why would you grow up with Tony Stark?” Steve now seems more confused than angry. Sharon lets out another tired sigh and turns to Steve.

“Peggy Carter, my great aunt is Tony Stark’s godmother, we grew up as distant cousins and I didn’t think he was being serious when he said he was going to hack SHIELD.” Sharon explains, now annoyed for a different reason. Steve opens his mouth to ask more but Darcy knows they’ll be here all day unless they stay on track.

“Okay, so that’s something to work out and bond over later. The point of me fucking up your undercover operation or Steve Stalking was because I thought it would be better if you just worked together. Cut out the middle man and annoy Fury at the same time.” Darcy actually uses jazz hands at the end.

It takes a second but eventually Sharon and Steve turn back to each other, both looking like they have more questions but not looking like they're about to brawl.

“Why would you accept this job?” Steve asks.

“Because it’s invasive, you are already overwhelmed by the future, finding out your every move is being watched?” Sharon shrugs. “Doesn’t build trust.”

“But you-”

“I wasn’t going to tell Fury everything, I figure I watch your back….and doing this could finally get me off desk duty.” Sharon admits as she raises her shirt to show a bullet scar near her hip. Darcy is impressed, scars are badass, Steve seems impressed too but probably for different reasons.

“Not a desk person?”

“I got cabin fever in the first month, like it or not you’re my golden ticket here Captain Rogers.”

Steve finally smiles and relaxes and Darcy takes a deep breath as the tension settles.

“I can respect that.”

“So, do we have a deal?”

“Fury tried to pull one over me so the only respectable thing would be to pull one over him.”

Darcy’s head bounces back and forth between the two of them and she watches as twin grins of mischief bloom on both their faces. She gives these two a year tops before they are at least friends with benefits. She slowly starts to walks away from the literal golden couple.

“So, if you’re good here Steve I’ve got to get back on the road.” Darcy says, making Steve finally look away from Sharon towards Darcy. He gives her a knowing grin and waves.

“I won’t forget this Lewis.” Steve says with deviousness in his voice.

She might have just started what amounts to a prank war with Captain America, she really should have believed Bucky when he said Steve Rogers was the biggest little shit the world has ever known.

Darcy just sends him a peace sign then wiggles her eyebrow suggestively towards Sharon’s direction and delights in Steve Rogers blushing.

***

She gets lost about three times and considers pleading mercy and calling Clint at least five times. But it’s worth it when she drives through the farm gates and finally arrives at the Barton farm. She parks her car near Laura’s car in their driveway and then turns the car off. She sits in the driver’s seat for a second and takes in the green field that surround the yellow house with the happy green shutters. Last time she came here she was full of dread, about to meet a family while she was knowingly leading the father and husband to a metaphorical slaughter. Now, now she is here as a friend and the whole rest of the future seems to stretch endlessly before her, but for once it doesn’t feel quite so impossible.

Darcy is taken out of her musings by the slam of the front door and Darcy smiles as she watches Lila Barton run towards her car.

“Darcy!” The car does nothing to muffle Lila’s excited shriek, it doesn’t feel like their second meeting from how happy the little girl is to see Darcy. In some way it reminds her of Morgan, but when Morgan is this age Lila will be well into her 20s.

_Ugh mind fuck. Stupid time travel._

Darcy gets out of the car and plays it up when Lila collides into her, making it seem like the young girl could have knocked her over.

“I want to show you my pictures and Daddy said my aim got better so can I use your taser now?” Lila questions with all the innocence in the world. Darcy hears a heavy sigh and looks up to see Clint Barton, once again dressed in flannel and jeans. Seeing the Avengers in everyday clothes is still weird when she got use to the battle gear.

“You’re not allowed to complain about me anymore because you are now influencing my daughter. What six-year-old wants a taser?”

“You, Laura and Natasha’s kid.” Darcy says without missing a beat. Clint sticks his tongue out at her and makes Lila giggle.

“You just missed Natasha, she was called in, Laura’s on the phone with her now.”

As if to prove his point, Laura comes out on the porch with a smile on her face and a wave, while she continues her conversation on the phone. She approaches their small group and Darcy does delight in the soft smile on the woman’s face.

“Because you and I know when he’s being a little shit.” Laura says, continuing her conversation with Nat. Laura rolls her eyes and laughs before holding out her phone to Clint. Clint sighs and takes the phone.

“I was just saying hi!” Clint says to Natasha as he scoops up a squealing Lila and starts marching towards the house. Laura smirks after them and then turns to wrap Darcy in a hug.

“You are staying the night, no excuses, no exceptions.” Laura Barton said in a firm voice as she draws out of the hug and give’s Darcy a smile. Darcy is starting to get how this woman bagged Clint and Natasha, she has a no bullshit attitude.

“I actually have a question you may know the answer to, Natasha and Clint were talking about Budapest? No one could get it out of them, I would love to have something over everyone else.”

Laura suddenly stops walking and looks at Darcy with her mouth hanging open. Darcy wonders if she said the wrong thing but then Laura suddenly bursts into loud raucous laughter.

“What’s taking you two so long?” Clint calls as he comes outside. Laura takes one look at Clint and bursts out laughing again, Clint gives Darcy a look but she just shrugs. Eventually Laura manages to take a deep breath.

“You mentioned Budapest?” Laura asks a big smile on her face and Clint closes his eyes and groans, and Darcy swears she actually hears a distant laugh from the phone that could only be Natasha.

“They met me in Budapest, or I guess more accurately would be to say that Clint met me while Natasha did their job.” Laura explains and Clint groans again and puts the phone back up to his ear.

“I have to go emotionally suffer, check in tomorrow.” Clint says before handing the phone over to Laura.

“Love you stay safe.” Laura smiles into the phone before hanging it up and turning back to Darcy.

“I was a history major, studying abroad when-”

Clint groans loudly for the third time but Laura just turns to him and puts on a brighter smile.

“He saw me at a museum, came up and started talking to me and I’m pretty sure he let me babble for a half hour.” Laura shakes her head and her eyes are full of laughter. “I only found out later that Clint’s com had short circuited so while he was making cow eyes at me Natasha was two floors down beating off six guards.”

Laura was laughing along with Darcy as Clint had taken to hugging Laura from behind and hiding in her hair.

“Nat never let him forget it.”

“No, she didn’t.”

Clint pops out a second later but keeps Laura in his arms.

“Just remembered, there was something left for you, a file. Might be a T-Hop thing.” Clint says.

  
“If you go grab that file then I could start feeding her.” Laura says and Clint snickers but let’s go of Laura and heads inside. With one more bright smile Darcy follows quickly after Laura who does indeed have food waiting on the stove. She’s in the middle of slirpping up some homemade spaghetti when Clint drops the file in front of her. She very carefully wipes the red sauce off her fingers and flips open the thick file. She chokes a little on the thick sauce and almost coughs it up all over the papers.

The file was about Bucky.

It was his official papers, his war papers, his SHIELD file, as well as dozens of reports of a shadow, an unnamed assassin, and unsolved murder. All of them more or less could be Bucky. Darcy flips back to the front and sees the sticky note on the cover of the file.

_Not all confirmed but the timeline checks out. -NF_

“Darcy.”

A hand clamps down on hers and she jumps to see Laura looking worried but Clint looks like he knows what’s going on.

“Sorry. Sorry. I just…. need a second.” Darcy pushes back the chair and it screech echoes in the kitchen. She grabs the file and hurries upstairs to the tiny guestroom that she had stayed in last time. She closes the door and hugs the file close to her chest. She takes a second before opening her eyes and making her way to the bed. It takes her a few moments of just staring at the file but eventually she gets the cover open and stares at the 1940s snapshot of James Buchanan Barnes. It honestly looks too serious to be him, the man she knew had a similar haircut and more stubble on his face but he was never really without a smile or some other big emotion on his face.

She knows that this Bucky, this time around is not her Bucky, the one in the future wasn’t really her Bucky either. She doesn’t really have a Bucky, not yet at least. She reaches for the small picture and holds it closer, staring into the sepia toned eyes that she knows are the color of the sky.

She admits it now, she loved the man from the future and she could honestly see herself swooning over the man from the past. The question would now be would she love the man as he is?

Whatever the answer was Darcy Lewis knew one thing, she was going to help save the Winter Soldier and bring Bucky Barnes back.

No matter what, her future was going to lead to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus we reach the end of this tale!
> 
> So the one shot should be coming soon, be on the lookout for that and the next multi-chapter may take a little bit longer than this story considering I have to get through three movies instead of one.
> 
> Until then, I hope you all enjoyed And Baby You're Love Is Gonna Change Me.

**Author's Note:**

> So the first few chapters will stick to MCU canon with the addition of the Uncle Tony/Niece Darcy detail. It will mostly be explaining canon to Darcy and then her setting up things for when they start to change once she's back in 2010.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed and are excited for more!


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